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Master of Public Management (MPM)

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Course List

Requirement Of Credit Hours


The degree requires the completion of 27 credit hours (most courses are three credit hours), comprised of 18 credits of core courses and 9 credits of electives. Students admitted to the MPM will be required to complete the program on a full-time or part-time basis. Details as follows,

Core Courses: 18 credits

Elective Courses: 9 credits (Students will have the flexibility to choose from a wide range of courses based on their needs.)

Credit Transfer: Subject to the approval of the Program Director, students may apply for course substitution or credit transfer of no more than 12 credits.

Core Courses (18 Credits)

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PPOL 5280
Economic Reasoning for Public Management
3 Credits
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Public sector managers are tasked with handling a wide range of issues with economic implications. These issues often involve the allocation of resources (not just governmental resources, but also society’s) and have implications for efficiency and equity. Sometimes, these issues involve difficult trade-offs between efficiency and equity. How are we to decide? Should efficiency consideration always trump equity ones? The course is designed to familiarize students with the methods, strengths and limitations of economic reasoning in addressing these issues. Concepts covered in this course are drawn from both micro- and macroeconomics. Illustrations are conducted in an interactive manner using cases studies as well as widely cited examples in public management.

PPOL 5260
Public Management: Theories and Practices
3 Credits
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This course combines theoretical training with practical applications. It introduces students to key concepts in the discipline of public management and covers major approaches to management in the public sector. The course begins with a review of the evolution of thinking from public administration to public management. It allows students to explore the changes of responsibilities and skills of public managers. From that basis, we move to look at tools in important functional areas of public management and investigate how to critically apply a range of mechanisms to improve the performance of public managers.

PPOL 5290
Managing for Sustainability
3 Credits
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Sustainable development problems pose some of the greatest challenges for both private and public sector organizations around the world, and effective policy design requires manager with strong subject matter understanding, creativity, and the ability to incorporate diverse perspectives and approaches to sustainability. The goal of this course is to advance students’ abilities to apply managerial principle, tools and methods to ensure sustainable development at organizational, sector and system levels.

PPOL 5300
Managing the Policy Process
3 Credits
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The course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the principal elements of policy analysis and program evaluation. It introduces key concepts and tools from professional practices in the public sector. Main topics covered include process of policy analysis, market failures, governmental failures, information structuring, data collection methods, decision matrices, cost-benefit analysis, and program evaluation. Upon completing the course, students will develop the skills to analyze and evaluate policy programs.

PPOL 5310
Public Management for Technology Innovation
3 Credits
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While advancements in science and technology have been rapidly expanding the range of solutions for tackling these challenges, science and technology innovations have also raised a set of emerging ethical, institutional and legal issues for government, non-profit and private entities. The course aims to help students familiarize with opportunities and challenges brought about by advances in science and technology and analytical approaches for developing appropriate public policy and governance structure to harness the full potentials of these advances. Major topics covered include science and technology policy, regulations of the uses and applications of new technologies, smart cities, the applications of big data, and the management and governance of new media.

PPOL 6120
Capstone Project
3 Credits
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Capstone project offers a unique opportunity for students to focus on specific areas of public policy and management in Hong Kong, China, or Asia and carry out in-depth studies. Students may expect discussions of issues that have been the cornerstones of the regions’ development that they choose. HKUST is well-positioned to share the experience of effective governance across Greater China in particular, and Asia-Pacific in general. Faculty supervisors will work with students to reach out to the practitioners in the public sector. Students will apply what they have learnt in class to analyze and solve the problems in the real and dynamic society. The project brings students to reflect on the overall training in the MPM Program and helps them consolidate their knowledge in the area.

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Elective Courses (9 Credits)


MPM students will choose three electives from a wide range of courses. In addition to electives offered by the Division of Public Policy, students may also take courses offered by other departments/divisions such as HKUST Business School, School of Engineering, School of Humanities and Social Science, and the Division of Environment and Sustainability. Details as follows:

  • Elective courses offered by PPOL:
    Students can take any PPOL postgraduate courses to meet the elective course requirement.

Course code Course title No. of credit
PPOL 5180 Risk and Regulation 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5190 Policy Analysis and Design for Sustainable Development 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5200 Aging, Demography, and Policy 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5210 Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Management 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5220 Complex Systems for Policy 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5230 Technology, Innovation and Public Policy 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5240 Advanced Analytical Methods for Public Policy 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5250 Innovation and Sustainability 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5270 Finance, Financial Cries and Economics Development 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5320 Urban Economics and Urban Policy 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5330 Ethics and Public Policy 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 5351 Environmental Economics 3 Credit(s)
PPOL 6100 Special Topics in Public Policy 1-3 Credit(s)

 

  • Electives offered by other departments/divisions

Course code Course title No. of credit
CIEM 5150* Dispute Resolution for Engineers 3 Credit(s)
CIEM 5160* Construction Financial Management 3 Credit(s)
CIEM 5810* Engineering Risk, Reliability and Decision 3 Credit(s)
EEMT 5100*# Principles and Techniques for Technical Management 2 Credit(s)
EEMT 5160*# Transportation and Logistics Management 3 Credit(s)
EEMT 5300*# Global Supply Chain Management 3 Credit(s)
EEMT 5360*# IT System for Global Enterprise 3 Credit(s)
EEMT 5510*# Engineering Economics and Cost Management 3 Credit(s)
EEMT 5530*# Financial Engineering and Risk Management 3 Credit(s)
ENVR 5250 Environmental Economics and Management 3 Credit(s)
ENVR 5260 Environmental Policy and Management 3 Credit(s)
ENVR 6060 Sustainability Economics 3 Credit(s)
EVSM 5230 Environmental Health and Management 3 Credit(s)
EVSM 5300 Corporate Environmental Strategy 3 Credit(s)
ISOM 5370 Technology and Innovation Management 2 Credit(s)
SOSC 5620 Sustainable Development 3 Credit(s)

(*) For the highly technical course(s), students will be approved to take the course(s) with advices sought from the Program Director.
(#) Admission to EEMT course(s) will be subject to approval by EEMT course instructor(s) and the MSc (EEM) Program Director on a case-by-case basis.


Remarks
- Full-time students should take a minimum of 12 credits and up to a maximum of 15 credits of coursework per regular term.
- Part-time students may take a maximum of 9 credits in each term.

 

 

For further details on elective courses, please refer to our Postgraduate Program & Course Catalog:

 

2021-22 cohort: https://prog-crs.ust.hk/pgprog/2021-22/mpm

 

2022-23 cohort: https://prog-crs.ust.hk/pgprog/2022-23/mpm

 

Credit Transfer


Subject to the approval of the Program Director, students may apply for course substitution or credit transfer of no more than 12 credits.