MSc. Public Management and Leadership

Why does governance so often fail to effectively address societal problems? Why does the success of policy solutions vary so strongly across countries and policy domains? The specialisation Public Management and Leadership develops a theoretical and practical understanding of how management and leadership behavior is at the heart of understanding – and improving – public governance. The programme provides an internationally comparative perspective on how the actions of political executives, top-level bureaucrats, managers in government agencies, and front-line professionals ultimately determine successful governance. This expertise prepares you for a career in an (inter)national public organisation or management consultancy. Public governance broadly refers to the structures, processes and institutions used by government to address urgent societal problems. However, to understand what makes public governance work in practice, it is necessary to look beyond the structures and processes of government, and pay attention to the behavior of organisations and the individual actors that operate within them. This master specialisation uses management and leadership theory to critically analyze how the decisions and actions of public managers ultimately determine successful governance. In doing so, the programme has an internationally comparative and practice-oriented perspective.