Program Overview Part 1 Video Transcription

[narrator] Welcome to the University of North Georgia Political Science & International Affairs Department's Youtube channel. This video is Part One of a multi-part series on the Master of Public Administration program at the University of North Georgia, designed to give you a general overview of the program. In this introductory segment -- Part One -- Dr. Luisa Diaz-Kope, MPA program coordinator, presents the broad outlines of our program. In follow-on segments you will get to meet the program's faculty members, in Part Two, and several of our students, current and past, in Part Three.

Well, let's get right to the overview. Dr. Luisa Diaz-Kope, tell us about the MPA program.

[Dr. Luisa Diaz-Kope] Hello and thank you for your interest in our MPA program. Our program has been in existence for 20 years. In 2017 we transformed the MPA to a fully-online graduate program. Switching the program to an online environment has significantly increased demand and enrollment in the MPA program.

When I speak to prospective students and ask them why are they interested in the MPA program, the overwhelming response is the excellent reputation of the University of North Georgia and the flexibility that they get in a graduate program that's fully online. Another benefit for students is that we have "rolling admissions," which allows students to apply to the program in the Fall, Spring, and Summer -- all year around.

The program consists of 36 credit hours, which includes eight core classes and four electives in our Public Affairs concentration.

The MPA degree is open to all different majors -- students are not required to have a background in political science. We have students from a variety of different undergraduate degrees and from different professional backgrounds.

Our classes prepare students to lead and manage public and non-profit organizations. Students in the program learn about: public budgeting, public financing, the legal and ethical environment of public administration, how to conduct applied research, and so much more.

Full-time MPA students can complete the program in two years. However, the majority of our students are full-time professionals, which means it takes a little longer, typically 3 to 3.5 years, to complete our program. We have both in-service and pre-service students. By and large, the majority of our students are in-service students and are pursuing an MPA because they want to advance their careers in their organizations. Our pre-service students are pursuing an MPA because they want to become familiar and learn the knowledge and skills to work in public sector organizations and to be public managers.

We are, we also offer Graduate Assistantships. The benefit of an assistantship is it allows students to waive their tuition and they work under the supervision of MPA faculty, either assisting them in teaching or research.

For more information on the MPA please contact me. Thank you so much for your interest.