| Maastricht Graduate School of Governance | |
| Established | 2004 |
|---|---|
| Dean | Prof. dr. Luc Soete |
| Students | 150 (approximately) |
| Location | Maastricht, The Netherlands |
| Affiliations | APPAM, NISPA |
| Website | http://mgsog.merit.unu.edu/ |
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance at Maastricht University is a public policy school. It offers master's degrees in public policy and human development and doctoral degrees in public policy and policy analysis, and conducts research in subjects relating to economics, political science, international affairs, and sociology. The School is the United Nations' first public policy graduate school.[1], and one of the few public policy schools in Europe. It is an affiliated member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, and the Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe (NISPAcee).
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Maastricht Graduate School of Governance was formally founded in September 2004 by the University Board of Maastricht University in light of the growing needs for highly-trained specialists in public policy analysis and governance with a global perspective. The School has positioned itself to be a academic centre based in Europe in the area of 'thought-leadership' as it applies to global governance and international public policy. The internationally focused School combines the academic resources of the faculties of Maastricht University and several foreign leading institutes in order to guarantee multidisciplinary training.
The School was officially opened for operations and teaching on the 1st of October 2005. Connected to the opening a conference was organized which commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Yalta conference. At this wartime conference in 1945 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin decided on the future of Europe. At the conference in 2005, the grandsons of these three world leaders looked back on the legacy of their grandfathers and discussed with students, politicians and European leaders on the future of Europe.
From December 2010, the School has merged with UNU-MERIT and becomes part of the United Nations University.
The mission of the School is to train specialists who combine academic scholarship with leadership, in order to strengthen democratic governance in domestic and international arena.
The School only provides formal degree programs at the postgraduate level in English, these include Masters and PhD.
The programmes bring together scholars with various disciplinary backgrounds from leading institutes across the world and practitioners from policy-oriented organizations in order to initiate new research, contribute current research, and train young researchers.
Besides teaching staff from Maastricht University and UNU-MERIT, scholars from the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, ILO, Johns Hopkins University, King’s College London, Oxford University , Syracuse University, University of Amsterdam, University of Bath, University College Dublin, University of Sussex , World Bank also teach in our master and PhD programmes.
The one-year Master program, which is taught in English, has 6 specializations:
The programme serves various groups of students, ranging from bachelor's students to mid-career professionals. In this programme, students are trained in formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating policy in order to be able to give recommendations for improving or replacing ongoing policies. Students are provided with a variety of skills, tools and knowledge which enables them to work as policy designers and policy analysts in public and private institutions.
The Maastricht Graduate School of Governance recruits students with strong academic records, a demonstrated commitment to public and international affairs and an outstanding potential for career growth and leadership.
Our MPP graduates are placed at various levels of national and regional governments and nonprofit sectors all over the world. Over 200 alumni now work for banks, ministries, consultancies, international organizations, pension funds, health institutes, NGOs, etc. Recent employers of MPP graduates include: UNDP, UNICEF, World Bank, WHO, WFP, OECD, ILO, Inter-American Development Bank, KPMG, European Investment Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, ING group.
The following PhD programs are offered by the School of Governance:
The Public Policy and Policy Analysis programme trains researchers to contribute to national and international governance by creating a critical mass of researchers to provide advice based on research in development, governance, and policy analysis.
Current research areas cover:
Doctoral graduates are teaching and researching in universities and research institutes in Europe, Asia, and Americas. Recent graduate placements include CEPS/INSTEAD, Institute of Development Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Maastricht University, National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, National University of Singapore, OECD, Overseas Development Institute, Pompeu Fabra University, University College London, University of Ottawa, Uppsala University.
About 80 per cent of the students and researchers at the School come from outside the Netherlands. Over half of them are from the greater Asia, Africa, and Latin America, totaling to over 55 countries around the world. The programme attracts not only students from various academic disciplines, ranging from science, engineering to law, social science and business, as well as professionals working in journalism, business, government, and NGOs. The diversity results in a stimulating blend of country-specific knowledge and individual experience. In the tutorial groups and in the classroom, students are exposed to many different views and ways of approaching the same subject.
The size of the student body for the School of Governance in 2009 was about 150 graduate-level students.
Besides degree programmes the School also offers other training activities[2] like, short courses, advanced academic updates, foreign exchanges, summer school, tailor made trainings to organizations such as UNICEF. In addition, many members of the School engage in private consulting work with governments and corporations around the world seeking unique perspective and advice.