The MPA Class of 2015 and a selection of the current cohort of MPA students 

The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is no ordinary university department. Sure, it has departmental dimensions: our much admired two year Master in Public Administration (MPA) brings together the teaching and research talent of five of LSE’s lead departments (Economics, Government, International Development, Social Policy and the European Institute). The result is a study programme which – in our students’ own words – creates graduates who contribute to public policy in the field of their choice in a focused and expert way. The MPA’s emphasis is on the hard questions about policy measurement and the economic analysis of public choices, which tend to be as difficult as they are essential. Our students throw themselves into these deeper dimensions of public policy, revelling in the course’s demands and enjoying the fruits of their labour as they emerge at the end as highly trained professionals. The two year programme allows our students to fully immerse themselves in their chosen policy streams in a way that is simply not possible in a one year programme. The result is a cadre of graduates with the capacity to make an immediate impact on their chosen policy environments.

There is much more to the IPA than being merely one of the global leading public policy schools.

First there are the people you meet. This consists of not just MPA students and LSE faculty; but also others who come and go. There are those with careers in public service from all corners of the world who are on campus from time to time as part of their Executive MPA degrees. Then, there are also the senior British civil servants taking the Executive Master in Public Policy that we at IPA specifically designed for them. The LSE Public Events series brings the world to our students’ door, and the range of Policy in Practice seminars and other special events organised by the IPA specifically for our MPA cohort are the icing on an already rich cake.

The IPA is itself a place of innovation and experiment, bringing together civil servants, legislators and scholars together to solve policy problems. Former policy leaders at the Cabinet Office and at No. 10 Downing Street have joined the team. The students’ journal, The Public Sphere, pitches the student view into the discussion, often to great effect. We have crowd-sourced the UK constitution, brought in women leaders from around the world to recount their journeys to the top, and run a series of Guerrilla Lectures on surprise topics in Westminster Cathedral, Highgate Cemetery and the Houses of Parliament. Here, at the IPA we educate for a life at work, but we also build memories for our lives, which go well beyond the professional.

  Professor Conor Gearty is the Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.