The University of Pretoria’s School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) will offer a new PhD programme in Public Policy, and prospective students will be able to apply for it in 2021.
This development comes as a result of engagements between the SPMA and the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) in 2019, when UP staff met with Dr Beatrice Muganda, Dr Pauline Ngimwa and Executive Director Professor Tade Aina from PASGR.
“The University has recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with PASGR and we believe this will just strengthen the very good relationship the SPMA has formed with PASGR over the last year,” says Prof Natasja Holtzhausen, SPMA PhD coordinator.
One of the discussion points was a PhD programme with a strong policy focus. With the support of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences and University management, Prof Holtzhausen and SPMA colleagues wrote a proposal that was submitted to all the relevant university committees to obtain permission for a degree that specialises in public policy. Top prospective students from across the continent were targeted. The Carnegie Foundation made 15 full scholarships available to fund exceptional PhD students. These 15 scholarships were shared among the three universities that were piloting the PhD, these being the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and the University of Pretoria.
The first students, mainly from Uganda and Nigeria, enrolled at UP in January 2020, but under the PhD Public Administration and Management programme. The PhD degree in Public Policy has since been approved by Senate and as of 2021, prospective students will be able to apply for this specific degree.
This has been reposted from https://www.up.ac.za/school-of-public-management-and-administration/news/post_2929457-spma-to-offer-new-phd-in-public-policy