Master of Public Affairs (MPA)

Expand and deepen your leadership for the sake of the public good.

The Berkeley Master of Public Affairs (MPA) program is a 30-unit one-year program, designed to benefit mid-career professionals in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.  MPA students are seeking advancement in their careers and are poised to take on greater leadership and policy-focused roles in their workplace and professional communities.

Learn the skills to make an impact

The focus of the degree is on policy analysis combined with deep engagement with questions of organizational leadership and ethics, innovation, economic analysis, and strategy. Students also undertake individual and group assignments that emphasize both short turnaround analyses and in-depth studies of policy issues. You conclude the program by designing a Capstone project with a real world client. MPA students conduct a thorough analysis of a major policy question facing the organization, while applying the interdisciplinary methods, approaches, and perspectives studied in the MPA curriculum. 

Learn from distinguished Goldman School faculty and a global community

Classes are taught by top faculty, researchers and practitioners who are on the leading edge of today's most pressing public policy issues: energy & climate change, national security & international development, information technology, education, race, equity & social justice and urban policy & labor.

Throughout your studies, you will enjoy personal attention in small classes, and join a network of professionals and executives leading the charge to shape government, business and nonprofits.