Strengthening Mexican public service education and governmental capacity through international affiliation

Abstract

A strong and professional civil service is widely recognized as an important condition for a high-capacity and effective government. Similarly, high quality public service education is a means of strengthening and professionalizing civil service. Quality assurance and accreditation mechanisms, both domestic and international, are tools for improving educational quality. This article examines public service education in Mexico for a strategy for international engagement with NASPAA. The purpose of such engagement would be to expose Mexican public service education to international norms and standards and to demonstrate how doing so could lead to forms of affiliation and to the development of Mexican quality assurance mechanisms. We make the case that strengthening graduate public service education in this fashion can lead both to better internal governance and to enhanced international collaboration, credibility, and competitiveness for Mexico, while also being a possible model for NASPAA’s interactions with programs in other nations similarly situated.