New Master’s degree programme for committed future leaders

Berlin, the 28th of May 2009. As of winter semester 2009, young leaders in governments, the private sector and civil society will be able to acquire a valuable additional qualification through the career-accompanying Master of Public Policy degree programme at the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance. The Master of Public Policy is a joint study programme between the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and the Humboldt University Berlin, organised and administered through the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance.

The degree programme skills young and engaged future leaders in developing and implementing visions for the future cooperation of governments, businesses and civil society. They will thereby be able to actively set and promote agendas for their individual organisations, always taking the dynamics of interaction between the political, the private and the civil society sector into consideration, and thus contribute to effecting change.

Professor Gesine Schwan, co-founder of the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance, argues that shaping public policy in an increasingly complex and globalised world requires integrative approaches to leadership as well as innovative processes: “Our concept is based on the conviction that addressing global questions and local problems requires the cooperation between governments, the private sector and civil society”. Taking this into account, the four-semester-long study programme will train students to develop and sustainably implement solutions to the challenges society presents.

At the centre of the Master of Public Policy lies a hands-on project that students will develop based on their everyday work experience: “By working on concrete projects, students will learn how to make ideas a reality”, says Professor Stephan Breidenbach, one of the founders of the HUMBOLDT-VIADRINA School of Governance. Depending on their individual professional interests, students will learn how to conceptualise and implement projects in the public sphere as well as to develop, implement, and communicate concrete strategies for different policy areas.
This could include, for example, campaigning for the citizen’s participation in developing a sustainable energy policy or developing a Corporate Social Responsibility strategy within a small-scale business.

In a combination of distance learning courses and more thorough presence-required seminars, an engaged and results-oriented leadership will experience the advantages of uniting science with practice. They will acquire a whole range of skills needed to address complex problems: a multi-perspective approach to problem-solving, an orientation towards the effective use of resources, leading a dialogue-based process as well as negotiating and mediation skills.

Application requirements include the excellent completion of a prior degree and at least 2 years of work experience. Furthermore, applicants are required to propose a concept for the hands-on project which should preferably relate to the activities of their individual organisations and which students will work on during their course of study.

The degree programme is accompanied by an advisory board whose members belong to the political, the private, and the civil society sector – among them the former General Secretary of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, Lord Ralf Dahrendorf and Richard von Weizsäcker.

Contact:

Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, Wilhelmstraße 67, 10117 Berlin

press contact:

Cosima Stromer

cosima.stromer@governance-school.de

+49 (0)30-2005 971 – 21

+49 (0)176-61072920

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