A Contrastive Study Of US And China MPA Programs

The MPA program finally landed in China in 2001 after years of preparation mainly as a result of domestic academic development in administrative science and the specialization and professionalization of public servants with the expansion and greater complexity of administrative functions. Introduced from the West, the United States in particular, the MPA program has become a new member of the current graduate degree education system of China. Though it has been made available in 24 prestigious universities, there is still much room for improvement.This thesis intends to conduct a contrastive study of US and China MPA programs with a view to finding out what successful experience the Chinese MPA program can learn from its US counterpart and what it still lacks in and needs to add for the smooth and effective operation of quality MPA education in China.This thesis achieves its goal through observations and analysis in three steps. First, it gives an overview of the MPA program: it is a professional and interdisciplinary degree program based on extensive borrowing from other relevant fields of study since public service requires a wide variety of expertise. Second, this thesis analyzes the US MPA program in detail, focusing on its development, components and features, coming up with the findings that the MPA program is closely related to administrative needs in the public service, and that standards and guidelines formulated for the MPA program have acted as a guarantee for its quality while considerable freedom given to individual MPA sponsors has contributed to its diversity. Third, this thesis explores the Chinese MPA program, including the contributing factors, components and features, and problems unresolved, pointing out that though time is ready for the initiation of MPA education in China, greater efforts should be exerted to train instructors, write or compile textbooks and cases for study.By discussing the character of MPA programs as well as the contrastive study of US and China MPA programs, this research ends up with the following conclusions: namely, full use should be made of the successful experience in the US running ofMPA programs while actual conditions in China should be taken into consideration. Besides, the Chinese MPA program should take advantage of recent advances in the study of public administration such as governance theory as new platforms, hi addition, MPA education, as an important and effective way to train public servants, may go well beyond training. It can be employed to help shape the mentality of public servants concerned with the provision of public services.