Public administration managers are confronted with new and highly complex challenges emerging at a rapid rate. This situation requires a reimagining of public administration education to prepare public administration managers to capably deal with these challenges. While the Master of Public Administration (MPA) is globally used as vehicle for…

How can Latin American students learn more effectively how different governments address similar public problems? This region shares similarities in terms of culture and history. However, Latin American students study only their public policies and public administration based on the notion that each administrative system has its own…

If the aim of developing public policies is to solve social issues, it is worth asking whether the higher education programs for future public servants are being adapted to the demands of our societies. If we also recognize a relationship between education and political capacity, then it is pertinent to study the development of knowledge, skills,…

This study aims to propound an instructional design for a service-learning course grounded in public problem analysis and verify its immediate and sustained outcomes through the actual instructional process. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted wherein students who were enrolling in a service-learning course were considered as a…

Learning how to engage students in educationally purposeful activities has been a challenge for instructors in higher education. It is often hard to push through institutionalized pedagogical boundaries rooted in traditional "teach-at-you" approaches to learning. The demands of a more diverse student body and more effective measures of…

Public affairs education can benefit from the potential of active learning practices in preparing students for the complex surroundings of real public service. This article aims to explore the use of those practices in public affairs education and the extent to which those practices are suitable in a public affairs school in a country in the…

Policy writing assessments are increasingly used as an alternative or supplementary method of assessment within the teaching of politics and policy. Such assessments, often referred to as 'policy briefs' or 'briefing memos', are often used to develop writing skills and to encourage active learning of policy-related topics among students. While…

This article outlines how Master of Public Administration (MPA)/Master of Public Policy (MPP) programs can integrate a project-based learning opportunity to study curricular design and accreditation needs in their quantitative courses. Bridging together theory and the practical implications of data collection and analysis is important for…

This paper discusses both challenges and opportunities for using inquiry-based learning in public administration postgraduate education in a context of internationalisation. In particular, we discuss the appropriateness of inquiry-based learning for teaching diverse groups of students from varied international backgrounds. Inquiry-based learning…

This article provides a case study of tutor's reflection on practice leading to a different approach to teaching an introductory course on politics and policy at a major Australian university, aimed at better reaching disengaged students. The overhaul led to higher levels of constructive student engagement in the tutorials, resulting in improved…

For higher education institutions to produce graduates capable of contributing to society and the economy in a productive manner, educational emphasis is placed on the development of critical thinking. The above necessitates that higher education institutions are able to engage in responsive curriculum design and delivery for enhanced student…

Student evaluations of quantitative methods courses in political science often reveal they are characterised by aversion, alienation and anxiety. As a solution to this problem, this paper describes a pedagogic research project with the aim of embedding quantitative methods by stealth into the first-year undergraduate curriculum. This paper…

This paper explores some of the critical debates in social science research methods education and is set out in three parts. The first section introduces the importance and relevance of research methods to the social sciences. It then outlines the problems and challenges experienced in the teaching and learning of research methods, which are…

There is continuing concern about the paucity of social science graduates who have the quantitative skills required by academia and industry. Not only do students often lack the confidence to explore, and use, statistical techniques, the dominance of qualitative research in many disciplines has also often constrained programme-level integration of…