Innovation, Public Policy and Public Value MPA

at University College London

Compulsory modules
 

• New Economic Thinking and Public Value (15 credits) [Term 1]

The module will consider the alternative models for public policy, governance and administration from those focussed on ‘market fixing’ to new ones that can be expressed as ‘market making’. The latter requires all organisations, including those in the public sphere, to be equally ambitious around experimentation and exploration. This requires building new competencies and dynamic capabilities inside public institutions, which are oriented towards producing, nurturing and evaluation the creation of public value.
 

• Economics of Innovation and Public Purpose (15 credits) [Term 1]

The module introduces students to the economics of innovation and technical change, with a focus on theoretical contributions in evolutionary and structural economics – including techno-economic paradigms, national, regional and sectoral systems of innovations, industrial ecosystem and diversification dynamics. Students are also encouraged to understand innovation dynamics in different country contexts, and what context-specific factors constraints innovation and the translation of innovation into new markets, products and purposes.
 

• Politics, Power and Systems Change (15 credits) [Term 1]

The module focusses on understanding systems, actors in the systems, and institutions. This includes an introduction to systems analysis and mapping, encouraging students to take a wide view of problems and their interconnection to other issues, and an exploration of systems change cases.

Particular attention is paid to policy actors and how they act within, and are shaped or constrained by, the systems that they seek to affect. As such, the module critically interrogates simplistic, linear notions of policy making. It also explores theories of power, introducing ideas of agenda-setting and knowledge-production, along with more conventional views bases on conflict and formal hierarchy.
 

• Making Decisions: Evidence and Evaluation (15 credits) [Term 1]

This module combines a survey of policy evaluation methods, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches, with a deeper discussion of the connection between a phenomenon, measurement, interpretation and, ultimately, decision-making.

Students will also engage with literature on how policy-makers use and interpret evidence and how this shapes their decision-making. This will be explored further through the use of case studies
 

• Creative Bureaucracies (15 credits) [Term 2]

Rooted in the study of public administration, this module looks at governance frameworks geared to developing dynamic capabilities within organisations, enabling them to become more flexible, adaptable and willing to experiment. The module begins by exploring the concept of creative bureaucracy – and whether that is an oxymoron! – before for looking at topics including the history of public administration, non-Western public administration traditions, and questions of ethics and representation. The module, in the second half, considers issues of digital transformation in depth.
 

• Transformation by Design (15 credits) [Term 2]

This module helps students develop strategic design skills and techniques for creating policy innovation cultures, processes, environments and organisations, particularly addressing the dynamics of digital transformation. The module uses tools from design thinking and applies them to issues in public administration, including policy design, public service design, and policy labs. As design has a significant practice component, the seminars are often practice-based, allowing students to apply the tools and thinking introduced in the lectures.