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The Harvard Kennedy School

     The Kennedy School is a professional school at Harvard University, which is the oldest institution of higher education in the US. Its mandate defines as to "train leaders to strengthen democratic governance at home and abroad". Programs are designed to improve strategic leadership skills, to prepare students for highly demanding management tasks and to enable students to acquire competencies in analysis and advocacy. 

     World-class faculty members are at the forefront of these fields, providing critical insight for Kennedy School students into a complex new world reality. Students prepare policy memos, work on project evaluations, create institutional design and assess corporate strategies. Many of them develop areas of expertise in working closely with faculty members and manage to establish extensive networks that they use later in their jobs. 

     Harvard University and its affiliated research institutes are involved in a vast array of projects ranging from alternatives to slash and burn agriculture in Kenya to conflict resolution in the Middle East. Term projects and papers are designed according to current policy relevant questions (e.g. rebuilding Afghanistan, financial crisis in Argentina, security policy in Pakistan or UN missions in Congo. For some of the students these papers are "real life" consultancy pieces that can be sent to federal ministries or multilateral institutions. 

     The Kennedy School offers Master Programs in Public Administration (MPA), Public Policy (MPP), Public Policy and Urban Planning (MPP/UP), Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) as well as several PhD programs and a superb array of executive education for senior and mid-level managers (e.g. Mid Career / Master of Public Administration, MC/MPA). Kennedy School graduates pursue careers in multiple sectors - nonprofit, government and private.