For-Credit Summer Graduate Course
Comparative Policy Analysis and Practical Program Evaluation
The University of Maryland School of Public Policy will offer a three-week, for-credit international graduate course on “Comparative Policy Analysis and Practical Program Evaluation,” July 3–20.
To be held in Paris, France, with the assistance of the Economics Department at Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), this study abroad course is designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate students studying public policy, public administration, and related subjects such as education, governance, international development, political science, public health, social welfare, sociology, and urban planning.
Faculty
- Douglas J. Besharov, University of Maryland, College Park (Program Director);
- Douglas M. Call, University of Maryland, College Park;
- Neil Gilbert, University of California, Berkeley; 2
- Jacob Klerman, Principal Associate, Social and Economic Policy, Abt Associates; Editor, Evaluation Review;
- David Myers, President and CEO, American Institutes for Research;
- Anu Rangarajan, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, International Research Division, Mathematica Policy Research; and
- Stefano Scarpetta, Director of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD.
Course Summary
This course will cover policy analysis and program evaluation in comparative perspective. It could serve as a student’s sole (or stand-alone) course on policy analysis and program evaluation, or it could supplement other courses on those subjects that students have taken or will take. As a comparative course, a major theme will be the conduct of policy analysis in various community and national settings, to reflect differences in governance, politics, culture, and research infrastructure. It will focus on four steps in the policy process:
- Planning programs, including specifying the problem, selecting a theory of change, and designing programs;
- Implementing programs, including designing, conducting, and assessing implementation and process evaluations;
- Assessing program impacts, including the full range of impact evaluation methodologies (including qualitative, pre/post, comparison group, econometric, randomized experiment, and natural experiment studies); and
- Monitoring the ongoing operations of programs, including the design, implementation, and evaluation of performance measures. Compared to many other courses, this course will spend relatively less time on how to perform regression and other econometric analyses. Instead, it will provide students with a broad understanding of the full range of impact evaluation methodologies (including qualitative, pre/post, comparison group, randomized experiment, and natural experiment studies) and the practical skills needed to assess and apply them.
Course Schedule and Facilities
The course will meet daily (tentatively 9:30-13:00) Monday–Thursday for three weeks from July 3 through July 20, 2017 on the campus of the Economics Department at 3 Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, which is located in the heart of the Latin Quarter.
Eligibility
The course is open to all graduate and advanced undergraduate students studying public policy, public administration, and related subjects (such as education, governance, international development, political science, public health, social welfare, sociology, and urban planning). Students must be in good academic and judicial standing and must not have any registration blocks. The minimum GPA for this program is 3.0 (unless otherwise approved by the program director).
Course Credit
Students will receive three credits from the University of Maryland upon successful completion of the course. Non-UMD students should confirm the transferability of credits with their home academic departments.
Application Deadline
Applications will be accepted through March 15, 2017.
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.umdcipe.org/conferences/SummerInstitute/Paris_Course%20Announcement_17_0120A.pdf