Public Management and Leadership Leiden University

Overview

Why does governance so often fail to effectively address societal problems? Why does the success of policy solutions vary so strongly across countries and policy domains? The specialisation Public Management and Leadership develops a theoretical and practical understanding of how management and leadership behavior is at the heart of understanding – and improving – public governance. The programme provides an internationally comparative perspective on how the actions of political executives, top-level bureaucrats, managers in government agencies, and front-line professionals ultimately determine successful governance. This expertise prepares you for a career in an (inter)national public organisation or management consultancy. Public governance broadly refers to the structures, processes and institutions used by government to address urgent societal problems. However, to understand what makes public governance work in practice, it is necessary to look beyond the structures and processes of government, and pay attention to the behavior of organisations and the individual actors that operate within them. This master specialisation uses management and leadership theory to critically analyze how the decisions and actions of public managers ultimately determine successful governance. In doing so, the programme has an internationally comparative and practice-oriented perspective.

What you will learn

The combination of academic and professional skills taught in the Public Management specialisation of Public Administration makes graduates excellent candidates for positions as a public manager, or take on an advisory role as a management consultant or strategic advisor within public organisations. In the Public Management and Leadership specialisation of the Master ofPublic Administration, you gain knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and theories of public management, as well as how to carry out state-of-the-art academic research. On top of this you develop the professional skills to be able to effectively apply your knowledge in practice to respond to management challenges in international, national and local public organisational settings. After graduation you are especially well-equipped to fulfil a managerial position in a public organisation.

Career prospects

We see that our alumni find employment in of three roles. First, many work in a public organization as a manager, supervisor or management trainee. Second, our alumni work as internal advisors in public or semi-public organizations, for instance as a strategic advisor to the management team of a municipality or human resource management advisor in a ministry. Third, our alumni are active as private sector consultants for companies such as PwC and CapGemini. In each of these roles, our alumni benefit from the theoretical knowledge, analytical skills and practical competences that are central to the Public Management and Leadership specialisation.

Did you know that:

• 42% of our alumni end up in Business, 28% in Government positions, 19% in Research and Education, and 11% in Other positions.
• 91% of our alumni found a job within a year after graduation?
• Over 60 % of our alumni has a job for which the MSc Public Administration or a closely related studies was a requirement?
• Our alumni work on average 38 hours per week and have a gross monthly salary of more than € 3.000?

Accreditation

Accredited by NVAO, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders.