Curriculum

"The MPA/ID program is an experience that stays with you throughout your career. Having graduated in 2009 I continue to draw on my learning from the multi-disciplinary courses and, of course, my fabulous classmates. From economics to leadership, the rigor of the training prepares you for the challenge of working in development."  

Preya Sharma  MPA/ID 2009 (UK)
IMF Resident Representative
International Monetary Fund, Lusaka, Zambia

"For me the MPA/ID programme was the perfect combination of knowledge, tools and ideas that I needed to build on top of my years of work experience in the public sector to help me understand and articulate in practical terms what works and what does not in development and why. Above all, however, I will cherish the conversations and occasional rants from my professors and classmates who to this day remain my lifeline anytime I need to crowd-source new ideas.  "

Marekh Khmaladze MPA/ID 2016 (Georgia)
Regional Program Cycle Advisor, UN World Food Programme
Regional Bureau for West Africa and Central Africa, Dakar, Senegal

"The MPA/ID experience has been essential to be the professional I am today, and a catalyzer for the positive impact I aim to have in the world. The combination of rigor, practical applications, and a truly international and diverse cohort of peers (who have become lifelong friends as well), have allowed me to work in a wide arrange of industries and geographies, at the intersection of public good and tech."

Diana Zamora MPA/ID 2014 (Mexico)
Global Public Policy Director
Mastercard, Mexico City, Mexico  

"The threads connecting our core classes and our classmates’ experiences are what make the MPA/ID so much more than the sum of its parts. After deriving Walras’ law in Micro, we read a paper in Dev 101 that used this model to explain a relationship between property rights and intra-household bargaining. Though the intra-household relationship initially seemed illogical, a classmate shared a personal anecdote about the power dynamics of in-laws in India that immediately elucidated the context. Moments like these capture the MPA/ID experience."

Sophie Gardiner MPA/ID 2020 (USA)
Senior Consultant
Dalberg Advisors, New York, NY 

"The uniqueness of the MPA/ID Program comes from the integrated nature of the subjects. Core classes fit together as a full narrative, with the whole greater than the sum of its parts. We do not study economics for the sake of solving the model but for the sake of solving a real life, complex development problem."

Adil Ababou MPA/ID 2017 (Morocco/France)
Senior Program Officer, Development Policy and Finance 
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Washington, DC 

"The lessons from the curriculum proved invaluable to me in multiple ways over the summer when I began my internship with the World Bank’s Climate Change Group. The climate change space is a classic example of a tragedy of the commons where the equilibrium is not a stable one and incentives to deviate are high for individual actors. So a lot of the game theory we studied is actually seen in action here.” 

Ratnika Prasad MPA/ID-MBA 2020 (India)
Business and Strategy Lead
Sway, San Francisco, CA

"MPA/ID teaches students to think critically, to analyse things from different angles, to understand multiple issues which shape the process of reforms and of state building in developing countries. The program is highly respected by employers.  Graduates' strong analytical skills and versatile mindsets allow them to exercise leadership in both private and public sectors."

Dimitri Gvindadze  MPA/ID 2005 (Georgia)
Director, Climate Strategy and Regional Delivery
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London, UK