The Increased Complexity of Public Services: Curricular Implications for Schools of Public Affairs

Abstract

In the last two and a half decades, the tools of government and methods of public service provision have markedly diversified. The increased complexity of the policy and organizational environment presents difficult challenges for public administration programs, especially in the design of a curriculum appropriate to the new mixed world of public and private services, and particularly if curriculum material appropriate for managing contemporary public and nonprofit agencies is to be fully integrated into the MPA curriculum. This paper discusses the changing public service landscape that the MPA curriculum must address and ways in which the curriculum can be adapted to prepare students to meet the changes and challenges of contemporary public service provision.