MPA Program at Sun Yat-sen University Successfully Obtains NASPAA's Highest Level of Accreditation
On July 14, 2023, the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) announced the results of the 2023 NASPAA accreditation, and MPA program at Sun Yat-sen University has obtained the accreditation with the highest level, which will be valid for 7 years from 2023 to 2030. Among the total five new programs around the world that have been accredited this year, MPA at Sun Yat-sen University is the only one in China.
Accreditation Results Released by NASPAA
NASPAA is a professional accreditation body for MPA programs approved by the U.S. Congress, with 317 member schools from 25 countries, and a total of 208 accredited programs worldwide as of the year 2021-2022. The NASPAA standards are the quality benchmark used by graduate public service programs around the world and enjoys the highest authority as an accreditation organization in global public administration education. NASPAA Accreditation is a voluntary process which is driven by program mission and public service values with a focus on seven accreditation standards. It requires programs to report on self-study based on their operation missions and the accreditation standards, and go through multiple procedures including accreditation eligibility application, self-study, interim-report response and site visit based on a strict timetable. The accreditation is well-organized, and its process is highly-standard.
In 2019, MPA program at Sun Yat-sen University became a member school of NASPAA and kicked off its accreditation work. The accreditation process has received strong support from the university leadership, the MPA Advisory Board, all faculty members, current students, alumni of the school and representatives of employers. The NASPAA Site Visit Team visited Sun Yat-sen University from March 9th -11th, 2023 and held multiple rounds of talks with university leaders, graduate school leaders, school leaders, program director and administrative staff, faculty representatives, representatives of current students and alumni, respectively. Finally, the good news came this summer that the program obtained NASPAA’s highest-level accreditation.
School delegation went to Los Angeles, U.S. for the NASPAA annual conference in October 2019
Meeting of the 1st MPA Advisory Board in July 2020
Faculty members discussing the Self-study Report at a Workshop in July 2022
Meeting of the 2nd MPA Advisory Board in January 2023
In this process, MPA program at Sun Yat-sen University adhered to the principle of “promoting development through the accreditation process”, centered on the program’s mission and goals, and systematically collated and presented the measures and initiatives in terms of the program’s mission and goals, program governance, faculty performance, student services, student learning, resource and communications, etc. On the one hand, the program refers to NASPAA’s accreditation standards of MPA programs in continuously perfecting its governance structure, enrollment, faculty and student services, software and hardware development, consistently highlighting the program’s development features, and enhancing its international development. On the other hand, the program has gained more opportunities to communicate with other leading MPA programs around the world and has also demonstrated the experiences and practices of China’s MPA education development for more than 2 decades from the perspective of MPA training institutions by sharing the story of MPA education at Sun Yat-sen University.
In March 2023, the Site Visit Team meet Vice President Shi Xie, Dean Zengping Chen of the Graduate School and Dean Ankui Tan of the School of Government and took a group photo
Group photo of the Site Visit Team and Associate Professor Mianjuan Li, Director of the MPA Program, and the office administrators
Site Visit Team checking the archives of the program
Site Visit Team had a discussion with the program director and administrative staff
Site Visit Team discussing with faculty representatives
Site Visit Team discussing with representatives of students and alumni
Group photo of the Site Visit Team, program administrators, students and alumni
As one of the first universities in China that have obtained the right to enroll MPA students, Sun Yat-sen University began its enrollment of MPA students in 2001 through its School of Government, which boasts leading development of the discipline, strong teaching capacity, and high-quality research competency. MPA at Sun Yat-sen University has been ranked among the top universities in China in terms of its overall strength in MPA education. In 2010, it was selected by the Ministry of Education as a pilot program for the comprehensive reform of the professional degrees and passed the evaluation and acceptance of the expert group with “excellent” results in 2013. In July 2018, it won Grade-A in the first national assessment of the level of professional degrees conducted by China Academic Degrees and Graduate Education Development Center under the Ministry of Education. Additionally, students won the championship in the 1st and the 3rd China Graduate Public Administration Case Competition. In the past 9 selection of National MPA Excellent Thesis, a total of 7 students have received the Outstanding Thesis Award or nomination.
Being accredited by NASPAA is another milestone of the development of MPA at Sun Yat-sen University, since it will consolidate the foundation for further improvement of the program, validate and strengthen its quality, which has mirrored the program’s commitment to excellence in MPA education and opened up a new chapter in the program’s development. In the future, MPA at Sun Yat-sen University will take this opportunity to center on modernizing the country’s governance system and capacity through cultivating more high-caliber talents in public service with rich application knowhow and inter-disciplinary knowledge, and steadily promote the high-quality development of Sun Yat-sen University’s MPA education, so as to facilitate the realization of the school’s great vision of “Good Governance Lifts the World; Good Governances Lifts China”.
