Inaugural Class

Central European University’s School of Public Policy (SPP), founded by CEU Honorary Chairman George Soros, welcomed its inaugural class of graduate students in September 2013, offering a bold, multidisciplinary approach to transforming public policy to better tackle the pressing issues the world faces.

SPP’s inaugural class of 26 students from 21 countries will earn a Master of Public Administration degree in a two-year program that has attracted top-level educators - from fields as diverse as global media policy, political transitions and human trafficking - to train future leaders.

“Building a multidisciplinary and global institution focused on the study and practice of public policy is one way of responding to what is, overall, a failure of policy elites to tackle the most urgent problems of our time,” said SPP Dean Wolfgang Reinicke. “A future generation of leaders must do better.”

SPP’s goals are aligned with those of CEU, which was founded by Soros and leaders of the democratic transition in Central and Eastern Europe in 1991 to train a new generation of leaders committed to building open and democratic societies that respect human rights and human dignity.

”The School of Public Policy will connect theory and practice by bringing the messy realities of policymaking and governance into the classroom, subjecting them to critical thinking and analysis, and drawing lessons from their failures and successes in the training of tomorrow’s leaders,” said John Shattuck, CEU President and Rector and professor of legal studies and international relations. ”The School will be a major new center for education and debate about the meaning of open society, reinforcing the values of democracy and human rights at the heart of our university.”

In addition to rigorous research and analysis, the MPA program puts a premium on policy practice. Spanning both academic years of the program, students will engage in a “Passion Project,” a consultancy for an external client organization that is executed in small groups. In cooperation with their host, students will identify a concrete policy or organizational challenge and, over time, develop a high-quality, policy-relevant product, outlining a recommended response. In addition, the 26 MPA students will acquire a concrete set of professional and management skills in the context of SPP’s Skills for Impact (SFI) program` which will provide them with a solid foundation for future careers to make a difference for the public good.

Since its conception in 2011, SPP has partnered with the Open Society Foundations, an organization that promotes transparency and good governance. Like OSF, SPP encourages new ways of thinking about public policy to answer the question: “What kind of political and social arrangements make for a just and well-functioning society - nationally, regionally, globally?” To answer this, students and faculty will assess real-world problems that go far beyond the study of one particular national governance context or administrative setting.

“As governments across the world find themselves increasingly in need of sharing the decision-making table with civil society and business, the study of the diverse sources of rule-making, political authority, popular legitimacy and power is a fascinating field,” said Anne-Marie Slaughter, a member of SPP’s advisory board, who is president and CEO of the New America Foundation. “SPP is very well situated to make major contributions to this field and to help us understand how to improve global governance.”

You can learn a bit more about the students and life at SPP by reading the SPP Blog.