Image of MPA/ID student.

Life After HKS

By creating this program, the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) has established a new career path towards leadership positions in international development. Existing programs emphasize either high-level technical training (as in master's and PhD programs in economics), or professional training (as in master's programs in international affairs or public administration). The MPA/ID combines the two approaches. It positions its graduates toward all-around excellence in a field that requires skills of both types.

Over the past nine years, the visibility of the MPA/ID program has grown rapidly. It enjoys a reputation for outstanding faculty; a challenging, integrated curriculum; bright and committed students; exciting internships, and successful job placement.

The majority of the graduates are employed by governments, intergovernmental organizations, or non-profit organizations; the World Bank and the UN are the two largest employers. Others are employed in the private sector or enrolled in doctoral programs.

For more specific information about career choices of recent HKS alumni, see Career Plans report. 

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Alumni Spotlight

Three MPA/ID Alumni from the Class of 2006 were named Echoing Green Fellows this spring. Carol Chyau (above) and Marie So's Ventures in Development fosters social entrepreneurship in China, and Elizabeth Sharpf's Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) seeks to make sanitary products more widely available to girls in Africa.


Alumni Spotlight

Mutsa Chironga
MPA/ID 2006 from Zimbabwe/UK
Associate, McKinsey & Co.
Johannesburg, South Africa

"The MPA/ID program’s curriculum and faculty are exceptional, and have enormously expanded my technical capabilities and understanding of the field. ...Studying within the Harvard community exposed me to incredible career, internship, networking and extra-curricular opportunities that I probably would not have had otherwise."