What do Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and PNM MP candidate for the La Horquetta/Talparo seat in T&T's 2015 national elections have in common?
They are all graduates of the mid-career Master in Public Administration (MPA) Edward S Mason Programme.
Regional graduates also include Bevan Narinesingh (2014), Trinidad's first ever Executive Director of the T&T Fair Trading Commission; David Prendergast (2013), the incoming High Commissioner to Trinidad from Jamaica; and Fernando Branger (1996), Senior Executive at CAF (Development Bank of Latin America).
This Friday at 10.30 am at The Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Invaders Bay, Port-of-Spain, Suzanne Shende, who is the Director of the Mason Programme, will be in Trinidad to give further information on the MPA course of studies.
Shende says the Mason programme "is the oldest international programme at Harvard University, this year bringing 91 accomplished students from 55 developing, transitional and newly industrialised countries to HKS for an MPA degree."
The MPA Mason Programme is the Harvard Kennedy School's flagship international programme. It is an intensive one-year course of study leading to a master's degree: the Master in Public Administration. Each year, 85 demonstrated leaders from developing, newly industrialised and transitional economy countries participate in this intensive one-year master's degree programme designed to prepare them to address the world's most compelling development challenges, states the programme's Web site.
The emphasis of the programme is on developing the broad range of analytical and leadership skills required to initiate and implement major political, social or economic change.
The Mason Programme begins with two intensive summer sessions. In the first session, known as the Mason Fellows Summer Seminar, participants use cases developed by the Kennedy School faculty as well as cases drawn from their own professional experience to explore questions of leadership, strategic management, communication and policy decision-making. In the second summer session, known as the MPA Summer Programme, participants develop their knowledge of applied economics, quantitative analysis, political institutions and globalisation. The content of the two semesters of graduate study that follow the summer sessions is largely determined by the student.
The school requires that each candidate for the MC/MPA complete at least one course in three fundamental skill areas: management and leadership, political thought and institutions, and economics and quantitative analysis. The remaining five (or more) courses are selected by the student to serve his or her unique intellectual and professional objectives.
Alumni of the Mason Program are innovators and leaders in public, private, and nonprofit sectors worldwide, say the programme's promoters. Graduates of the Mason Program have returned to their countries to become presidents, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, ngo directors, editors, central bank governors, chief executives, and senior-level government officials. Others have been elected mayors, governors, and members of parliament. Still others have joined international organisations and regional development banks.
"We seek leaders in all sectors who are working to better the world, often through policy, whether they come from government, non-governmental organisations, media, social movements, academia, or central banks" says Shende.
Mason Programme Requirements
Candidates must hold citizenship from a developing, newly industrialised or transitional economy country; have seven or more years of full-time professional experience at the time of application; and present a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of at least 600 (paper-based) or 100 (internet-based, with a minimum score of 25 in each section) or seven overall band score on the IELTS. Applications will be evaluated based on a variety of criteria, including quality of professional experience, prior academic performance, potential for influencing public decisions, and evidence of English language proficiency.
MORE INFO
What: Harvard Kennedy School informational session
When: Friday, Dec 19, 10.30 am
Where: The Blanchisseuse Room of The Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Invaders Bay, Audrey Jeffers Highway, Port-of-Spain (within walking distance of MovieTowne Entertainment Complex)
To attend: Please RSVP to: https://admissions.hks.harvard.edu/register/tt121914
Edward S Mason programme: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/masters/mc-mpa/mason
Harvard Kennedy School: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/
Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Box 56, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
HKS tel: 617-495-7864