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Program Mission & Overview

In the current global context, a professional public service is a major contributing factor to the standard of living in Canada, and is a key component of democratic governance. The public service in Canada has grown to include a large portion of the workforce whose primary focus is developing public policy knowledge and delivering public goods and services. In the GTA alone, the size of the core public service includes 15,000 federal public service employees, 65,000 Ontario public servants and at the municipal level, some 38,000 employees of the City of Toronto alone, with many more employed by municipalities in the surrounding regions. In addition, a significant number of Canadians work in the broader-public service in sectors such as education, health and social service delivery. With the changing boundaries of the public service in the past two decades, there are also a large number of non-profit and private sector organizations involved in public administration and governance.

The mission of the MA in Public Policy and Administration is to provide a high quality, professionally-relevant educational program that recognizes the unique character of the public service and its role in democratic governance to full-time students considering careers in the public and para-public sectors, and to part-time learners, already in the public service, interested in furthering their education.

The MPPA Program is committed to implementing the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For further details, please see our  (PDF file) MPPA TRC Review Report 2020. 

Program Overview

The Master of Arts in Public Policy and Administration is available in both full-time and part-time study options. The program:

  • focuses on students considering careers in the public and para-public sectors and professionals, already working in, or with, the public service, interested in furthering their education;
  • is designed to cater to the needs of both research and professionally-oriented students;
  • builds on the broader mandate of Toronto Metropolitan University, a university known for its professionally related programs of study and its commitment to providing educational experience based on the creative integration of theoretical and applied learning;
  • integrates the fields of public policy and public administration to reflect the theoretical and practical realities of the political context of policy development, implementation and analysis; and,
  • prepares graduates for further academic pursuits and careers in the public service at all levels of government, in the non-profit sector, in private-sector organizations with significant relationships with government and in international organizations.