Journal of Public Affairs Education

Cover design by Val Escher. Cover design property of NASPAA. Cover photo: University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Columbia

A demand for nonprofit management training and organizational capacity building exists in Latin America. However, few nonprofit management education (NME) programs in Latin America exist, and there is limited content related to ethics, transparency, and accountability. Using the case of Ecuador, we identify three strategies implemented by nonprofit leaders to cope with limited NME. We find that first, organizations engage in a process of collectivity that seeks to explore and give meaning to civil society in Ecuador. Second, this process leads to the production of knowledge about civil society in Ecuador. And third, based on both the process of collectivity and knowledge production, nonprofit leaders in Ecuador take ownership in the training of nonprofit leaders through several pilot courses related to transparency and accountability. The case of Ecuador reminds public affairs educators that organizations themselves can be successful producers of knowledge that can and should create and inform curricular content.

The article looks at Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs in Mexico and identifies four basic themes that compose Mexican public administration. Public service, justice, transparency, and good governance are all found in MPA programs in Mexico. The paper begins with an examination of public administration in Mexico and suggests that Mexico is currently undergoing its own progressive era. It looks at the administrative reforms and corruption in Mexico and their impact on various functions of government. MPA program curricula in Mexico are assessed to examine course offerings as they contribute to the reform movement. We introduce our study by highlighting key issues in the country of Mexico and then proceed to discuss their absence in some MPA programs. Finally, our findings show the various course offerings and regional differences in MPA program curricula.

Public administration education is provided in Brazil in two modalities: by government schools at all levels and branches of government, and by academic programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Education before entering the public service is primarily offered in public and private institutions of higher education at the graduate and undergraduate levels, with the latter predominating. Schools of government provide professional training that concentrates on skill and knowledge development for civil servants; a few offer academic degrees. Training is generally related to the focus of sponsoring agencies, although some schools have more expansive offerings. This paper addresses three questions related to the delivery of public administration education in Brazil: (a) How have the academic and professional training systems evolved? (b) How do their approaches compare? (c) What are the challenges and opportunities that face both modalities educating for public service in Brazil in the future?

Although the numbers of women and minorities have steadily risen in the United States federal workforce, some studies have suggested that these groups are still underrepresented in high-level positions. Notwithstanding, surprisingly, only a few studies have examined the recruitment and achievement gap among disadvantaged groups in programs of public administration/policy/affairs with the aim of investigating their role as a pipeline to representation. This study is a step in that direction. It surveys academic heads of U. S. schools accredited by the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). The survey focuses on four key areas: academic support, financial support, recruitment strategies, and training and development. Among others, findings show for instance that schools with a lower percentage of students from underrepresented groups use scholarships, tuition waivers, and teaching assistantships to recruit students from these populations; in comparison, schools with higher percentages of students from underrepresented groups are able to attract faculty from minority groups at twice the rate of schools with lower percentages of students from underrepresented groups.

As an interdisciplinary study, public policy is situated at the intersection of traditional academic disciplines combined with the needs of policy research in the governmental sphere. Through the application of pragmatic analysis to collective decision making, public policy implementation and evaluation rely upon theoretical concepts and frameworks developed from other disciplines. A major challenge for this discipline whose current state of literature is relatively fragmented is identifying a canon of texts fundamental to the development of its intellectual framework. No such agreed upon canon currently exists. This article offers a quantitative analysis specifying such a canon, termed the great books and articles of public policy. The establishment of a canon seeks to provide a common vocabulary for the intellectual development of the field and a common ground to integrate major concepts and theories into a coherent framework. In short, what is the core curriculum of canonic public policy texts?

Professional MPA education in China has emerged and developed in response to both internal and external factors since the 1990s. After 13 years of development, great achievements have been made, and various problems have also appeared. The primary problem is the wide gap between theory and practice in Chinese MPA education, which goes against its objective of producing high-level, multi-talented, applied professionals, and the urgent demands for professional managers by Chinese government and nongovernmental organizations. Chinese MPA programs have pursued a variety of efforts to address the problem. This paper describes and assesses a novel MPA education and training pattern, called the Faculty, Infrastructure, Teaching, and Student (FITS) model, initiated by Northeastern University. The model is evaluated based on data gathered from faculty, MPA students, and administrators. The results indicate that the model has potential for promoting the integration of theory with practice in Chinese MPA education and ultimately improving MPA students’ various competencies. Its central elements, with modifications for local circumstances, can be replicated by other institutions.

This article contributes to the literature on the role of client-based community service-learning courses in Masters of Public Administration programs. It focuses on how to design client-based service-learning courses that benefit students and community partners without placing undue burdens on faculty. After providing a synopsis of common challenges and associated solutions identified in recent literature, we describe key elements of a recent course conversion and share our reflections on its implementation. We focus on course design because learning outcomes are affected by both the design and management of community servicelearning courses. By discussing course design in more detail, we aim to help faculty assess whether they have the resources to successfully implement client-based service-learning courses. The article concludes with reflections on the effectiveness of the innovations we implemented, a checklist of considerations for designing similar courses, and considerations for adapting our model to other settings.

Beginning in the 1940s, academics recognized a gap between themselves and practitioners and contemplated methods of reducing this divide. Evidence for this gap includes recognition that academics and practitioners have different audiences, viewpoints, interests, intellectual approaches, research methods, and styles of discourse. Although much has been written about this topic and many solutions for closing this gap have been offered, there is growing concern among some scholars that this gap is increasing. Using a recent survey of current and lapsed members conducted for the American Society for Public Administration, we assess the current state of the gap between academics and practitioners on a range of ASPA services and priorities. Our findings suggest that demographic variables are more robust predictors of attitudinal differences among ASPA members as opposed to academic-practitioner views. Recognizing these differences may prove critical for ASPA as a professional forum of relevance as well as for promoting greater connectedness in public administration programs.