Loyola University Chicago

Job growth, affordable housing, educational reform, environmental concerns – all of these are significant challenges for society today. With the increasing complexity of these and many other issues, the relationships among government, business, and non-profit organizations have also taken on critical importance. The public policy program at Loyola can help students transform their interest in these types of problems into the ability to analyze and act upon them.  The curriculum brings together knowledge about current government programs with the technical skills to assess how politics influence policy choices, how to design more effective programs, and how to evaluate the impacts of existing ones.  

The Master's in Public Policy (M.P.P.) program at Loyola is a two-year professional degree, focused on training students to assume leadership roles in government, non-profit organizations, or businesses.  Part-time students would typically finish in three years.  Internships or capstone projects are available for students to apply the skills developed in the program and gain work-related experience.  M.P.P. students also may have an opportunity to work with Loyola's Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) or Center for Urban Environmental Research and Policy (CUERP) on various research projects. 

Degree Requirements

Required Coursework: The M.P.P. degree program requires 37 credit-hours of coursework—11 three-credit courses, plus a four-credit internship or capstone experience.

Core Requirements:

• Public Policy-Making and Implementation
• Policy Design and Analysis
• Public Budgeting and Finance
• Economics for Policy Analysis
• Ethics and Economic Justice
• Policy Evaluation
• Internship or Capstone Experience (4 credit hours)
• One of the following quantitative methods sequences:
• SOC 414 and 415. Statistical Methods of Analysis I and II
• PLSC 475 and 476. Political Analysis Techniques I and II

Electives: Students also are required to take 9 hours of electives. Electives can be drawn from many departments across the university, including criminal justice, economics, education, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology and social work.  The following courses are some examples of recent offerings.   

• Educational Leadership & Policy Studies -- History of American Education and Social Policy
• Educational Leadership & Policy Studies -- School Budgeting and Finance
• History -- Place, Race, and Space in US History
• History -- Immigration and Ethnicity
• Management -- Microenterprise Consulting
• Political Science -- Urban Politics
• Psychology  -- Methods of Program Evaluation
• Psychology  -- Survey Research Methods
• Social Work -- Ethnicity, Race and Culture
• Sociology -- Poverty and Social Welfare
• Sociology  -- The Urban Metropolis

Internship or Capstone Experience: For students without significant professional work experience prior to starting the program, an internship is strongly recommended. For students with professional work experience, a capstone project or policy clinic resulting in a major analytical report is recommended.