Note: This is the 2018鈥�2019 eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or .
Program Requirements
NOTE: This program is not offered in 2018-2019 and is currently under revision for 2019-2020.
The non-thesis, course-based Master of Public Policy (MPP) is designed for a discrete cohort of students who will take six core courses together and participate in an intensive policy lab in the month of May with the goal of providing graduate-level education and training in public policy across a range of domains and contexts while emphasizing collaborative learning and applied methods. At the same time, the curriculum is designed to provide thorough grounding in the intellectual legacies and academic disciplines that inform and reflect the broad field of public policy. Required courses will be supplemented by complementary courses which will allow students to pursue more specific interested in key policy areas. The summer internship will provide an opportunity for off-campus 'real world' application of the knowledge and sills developed on campus while requiring intellectual reflection on that experience through a capstone project focusing on assessment of a particular problem addressed during the internship experience.
Required Courses (33 credits)
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PPOL 601 Public Policy Theory and Analysis (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course examines explanatory models of the evolution and formation of public policy, focuses on the study of policy-making process across space and time, and issue areas, and illustrates the workings of specific policy environments in Canada and in other countries.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 602 Economics for Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : Policies governed by microeconomic considerations will be examined in government departments where issues such as labour market policy, economic development policy governing aid to developing countries, health policy, industrial organization and competition policy, and others will be relevant. Topics could include: market failure and public goods, public sector economics, theories of choice and individual demand, expected utility theory, moral hazard, risk and uncertainty.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor.
Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor. Since incoming students are required to have a macroeconomics course, this course concentrates on microeconomic methods.
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PPOL 603 Political Landscape of Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course examines the actors, institutions, norms and ideas that influence public policy environments. It will introduce comparison across policy settings in cross-national analysis as well as across specific policy domains. This course will survey theoretical approaches to the politics of policy-making and will introduce students to the body of applied research on the political drivers and political consequences of public policy.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 604 Ethics, Law and Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course examines the legal and ethical dimensions of public policy and considers how these provide boundaries to the purpose and practice of public policy-making. It provides an introduction to legal systems and the law in public policy-making, and introduces the concepts of justice and morality in the consideration of national and international public policy.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 605 Statistics for Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : Evidence-based policy evaluation using statistical analysis of data has been an area of intensive research. There has been widespread work on, and development of, techniques such as randomized controlled trials in the social sciences, methods for causal inference including quasi-randomization by a regression discontinuity studies, and so on. To ensure students are trained to appropriate professional standards, detailed examination of methods for statistical policy evaluation will be provided.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor.
Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor. Since this is the state-of-the-art in policy evaluation, students in a public policy program should be at a minimum trained to read and understand the results of studies.
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PPOL 606 Science, Evidence and Evaluation (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course examines the nature and impact of evidence through the policy-making process, addressing questions such as, how is scientific evidence considered in public policy, what kinds of evidence and research methods are used in public policy-making, and, what is the relationship between research, evidence and policy evaluation?
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program or have the permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 615 Policy Analysis Laboratory (6 credits)
Overview
PPOL : Simulation laboratory to introduce students to the building blocks of project organization and team management, and deploy these tools in analyzing actual policy questions.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program.
Intensive course taught over 4 weeks during the month of May. Students must be registered in the MPP program.
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PPOL 616 Public Policy Internship (9 credits)
Overview
PPOL : Intensive, off-site internship for which students will be placed with a public, private, or non-profit organization with the purpose of applying the knowledge, skillsets, and tools developed in coursework and the policy lab. Requirements include a policy analysis and a report (problem definition, formulation of solutions, evidence, methods, recommendations) relevant to the placement.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Students must be registered in the MPP program.
Complementary Courses (12 credits)
12 credits selected from the following:
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PPOL 607 Health and Social Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course focuses on health, health care and social policy. It examines the development of these policy areas through the professionalization of health and social provision, and the role of governments in funding and/or delivering public health and health care services and social programs. It also addresses the need for a better interdisciplinary understanding of the social determinants of health in policy analysis and evaluation.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MMP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 608 International Development and Global Affairs (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course covers topics such as the multidimensional nature of development, the role of trade and states in promoting development, international trade and aid policy-making structures, measuring development and aid effectiveness, refugees and migration, food security, social entrepreneurship, corruption and development, and environmental challenges. In so doing, the course also opens up to the theory and practice of how international development policy is formulated through international institutions and nation-states.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MPP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 609 Public Service Delivery in Canada (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course provides an overview of public administration and public management through the examination of key public policy programs at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels of government in Canada. It will involve the study of the real-world of decision-making in the public service, through the complexities of issues management, the interplay between politics and policy, the role of leadership, and the organization of bureaucracies.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MPP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 610 Environment and Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course examines how the environment has become a principal policy area of the 21st century, examining the links between resources, sovereignty and the environment. This includes analysis of the link between economic issues and environmental concerns, the interplay of domestic and international policy concerns, norms and standards.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MPP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 611 Business and Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course asks three related questions: First, how does public policy affect the environment in which business operates? This course examines the regulations, incentives, and interventions that affect government interaction with the private sector. Second, how do corporations and business seek to influence the public policy process? This course examines the mechanisms and strategies of business in their interface with policy-makers. Third, how does social entrepreneurship change the relationship between business and public policy?
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MPP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 612 Indigenous Issues and Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course focuses on the Canadian experience in public policy pertaining to Indigenous peoples. It involves both an historical component (treaties, relationship with the Crown, Constitution Act, and Indian Act) and a contemporary component (constitutional negotiation, legal mobilization, Indigenous claims and self-government). It will also cover key areas of concern, such as environmental issues, health outcomes, and education.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MPP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 613 Media, Information and Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course examines the development, role and impact of mass media in governance. It includes an exploration of the nature of the role of the media in shaping public opinion, policy agendas, and political debate; the use of information in new communications technology; and the relationship between news media and social media in the digital information age.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority given to students registered in the MMP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
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PPOL 614 Topics in Public Policy (3 credits)
Overview
PPOL : This course focuses on selected topics in public policy drawn from the current literature in public policy or related fields. The course provides an opportunity to cover topics appropriate to the program but not covered extensively in core or complementary courses.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Restriction: Priority will be given to students registered in the MPP program; however, students in other programs may take the course with permission of the program director and course instructor.
Faculty of Arts—2018-2019 (last updated Aug. 22, 2018) (disclaimer)
