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Home > Degree Programs > Master's Degrees > Mid-Career Master in Public Administration > Edward S. Mason Program
Edward S. Mason Program
The Mid-Career Master in Public Administration Edward S. Mason Program is Harvard University’s oldest international student program. Mason Fellows come from all across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Eastern and Central Europe, as well as the former Soviet Union. The typical Mason Fellow is an experienced professional with a proven trajectory in positions of leadership, high-level decisionmaking, and a strong commitment to public service.
A typical class includes experienced professionals who have assumed leadership roles in education, energy, defense, housing, transportation, foreign affairs, public enterprise, rural and urban development, environmental preservation, central banking, journalism, politics, and economic planning.
Mason Fellows are enrolled in the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration (MC/MPA). Simultaneously, they participate in a year-long co-curricular program that complements the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration by exposing the Mason Fellows to the ideas and strategies of leading thinkers and practitioners in economic, political, and social development. The emphasis of the Mason Program is on developing the broad range of analytical and leadership skills required to initiate and to implement major political, social, or economic change. Participation in the co-curricular program is a requirement for the Mason Fellows and culminates with the award of the Mason Certificate at the end of the year.
Interested applicants for the MC/MPA program who hold citizenship from a developing, newly industrialized, or transitional economy country must apply through the Mason Program. Please note that the deadline for application to the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration Edward S. Mason Program is the first Friday in December, which is earlier than the one for the MC/MPA.
Prospective students are encouraged to review the prerequisites for academic and work experience prior to applying.
The Mason Program at 50
Celebrating 50 years of excellence in global leadership
On the auspicious occasion of the Mason Program’s 50th anniversary, the Kennedy School has launched a campaign to make it possible for the most talented leaders from poorer nations to receive a Kennedy School education and enhance leadership capacity in some of the most underserved corners of the globe.
