US MPA Education And Its Implications On China's MPA Program

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program has a history of 82 years in theUnited States and now it has developed into a mature professional program. It trained manyhigh-level officials and provided the government and public sectors with a great manyqualified leading personnel thus playing a very important role in the public administration fieldin the US. As an advanced educational model introduced from western countries, the MPAprogram is still in its early development period in China. Though this professional degree wasnot set up for long in China, it has significant influence to China's public administrationeducation. While in the process of development, there is also some hindrance that has blockedthe rapid development of the MPA program in China.Through a review of the development of the MPA program in the US, the thesis analyzessome notable characteristics of the MPA program, including the completeness and diversity ofthe education system, creation of new training methodology, and the globalization of the MPAprogram. Besides, the thesis predicts the development trend of the MPA program in the US. Atlast, the thesis analyzes the implications of American MPA education on China's MPA programand gives suggestions.The thesis comes to the following conclusion through analysis and research: in the US,connection between universities and the government or public affairs agencies should bestrengthened in order to provide students with more opportunities and broader vision;with thecontinuous development of the society, faculties of the MPA program are facing morechallenge than ever before;cooperative way of training will be used widely;thecompetitiveness and recognition of MPA graduates in the society are enhanced. In China, MPAeducation can be used as an important way of civil servants training and also the new path forthe competence construction on the civil servants troop;it also plays a positive role to theoptimizing of the governmental organization and to the construction of public managementmechanism in accordance with the socialist market system;meanwhile, the MPA program alsoimpulses the public management education, strengthens the intercollegiate and interdisciplinarycommunication, promotes the creation and merge of knowledge, connects the government withschools as well as theory with practice, and also puts forward challenges to the traditionaleducation mode thus creating a new type of faculty contingent. The writer hopes that byresearching and analyzing the development characteristics and trend of American MPAeducation and implications on China's MPA program, the thesis could play a positive role tothe reform and further development of China's MPA education.