Exploring Graduate School in Public Policy: A Russian Case Study in the Globalization of Professional Education

With Robin J. LEWIS, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Master of Global Public Policy Program (MGPP)
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA); former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)

 

Public policy graduate education has been strikingly and deliberately globalized over the past twenty years as policy schools have sought students and faculty from around the world and also have altered curricula by introducing new case studies and other teaching materials that do not assume the US and European background of traditional programs.  A new global public policy program in Moscow illustrates the recent and rapid changes in this area and it also illuminates changing attitudes in Russia as to the country’s role in the global policy dialogue.  The talk will end with a brief account of this master’s program, which is seeking its first class for its inaugural cohort in September 2014 and is offering substantial fellowship opportunities for top candidates from around the world.

 

Robin J. LEWIS is Professor and Director of the new Master of Global Public Policy (MGPP) program at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) in Moscow.  He is also Professor at the School of Social Development and Public Policy (SSDPP) at Beijing Normal University, China’s top think-tank and graduate program in public policy.  He is the first President of the newly-formed International Development and Public Policy Alliance (IDPPA), a consortium of graduate policy schools in Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa.  Previously, he was the first Executive Director of the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), an innovative partnership between top policy programs in New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, Berlin, and Sao Paulo.  Along with colleagues from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics and Politics (LSE), he helped inaugurate a new fully-functioning system of dual master’s degrees. He has M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.