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MPA in Data Science for Public Policy

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Programme Code: TMPPDS

Department: School of Public Policy

For students starting this programme of study in 2026/27

Guidelines for interpreting programme regulations

Classification scheme for the award of a taught master's degree (eight units)
Exam sub-board local rules

The programme is taught over two academic years (21 months).

To be awarded the degree, students must complete courses to the value of 8.0 units in total over two years with 4.0 units in each year of study. Some courses have a unit value of 1.0 and some have a unit value of 0.5 indicated as (H).

No interim award is available: students completing courses with a total value of less than 8.0 units receive no award, regardless of performance in the courses that have been successfully completed.

Course code, title (unit value)

Before Year 1

Introductory course

PP407 Pre-Sessional Coding and Mathematics Bootcamp (0.0)

Year 1

Skills course

All students are required to complete the following course during the first year of their programme:

PP420 Professional Skills Accelerator (0.0)

Paper 1

PP440 Micro and Macro Economics (for Public Policy) (1.0)

Or Upon satisfactorily demonstrating prior knowledge of Micro and Macro Economics, students may be exempted from PP440 and will be free to take an additional unit of option course subject to the approval of the Programme Director.

Paper 2

PP478 Political Science for Public Policy (1.0)

Paper 3

PP455 Quantitative Approaches and Policy Analysis (1.0)

OR

PP456 Quantitative Approaches and Policy Analysis (0.5)

and an additional 0.5 unit option course - for students who demonstrate sufficient prior knowledge of Econometrics to be exempt from the first half of PP455.

or

PP419 Advanced Empirical Methods for Policy Analysis (0.5) #

and an additional 0.5 unit option course - for students who demonstrate sufficient prior knowledge of Econometrics to be exempt from PP455 in its entirety.

or

PP433 Topics in Model Based Quantitative Analysis for Public Policy (0.5) #

and an additional 0.5 unit option course, for students who demonstrate sufficient prior knowledge of Econometrics to be exempt from PP455 in its entirety.

Paper 4

PP422 Data Science for Public Policy (1.0) #

Year 2

Paper 5

PP4B5 Capstone Project: MPA - Data Science for Public Policy (1.0)

Paper 6

PP415 Technology, Data Science and Policy (0.5) #

Paper 7

1.0 or 1.5 unit(s) from Public Policy:

PP406 Philosophy for Public Policy (0.5)

PP410 Public Economics for Public Policy (0.5) #

PP411W Political Economy Applications for Public Policy (0.5) #

PP413 Growth Diagnostics in Development: Theory and Practice (0.5) #

PP414 Policy-Making: Process, Challenges and Outcomes (0.5)

PP416 Designing Democracy (0.5) #

PP417A The Practice of Effective Climate Policy (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)

PP417W Economic Principles of Climate Change (0.5)

PP418 Globalisation and Economic Policy (0.5) #

PP419 Advanced Empirical Methods for Policy Analysis (0.5) #

PP421 Advanced Topics in Climate and Environmental Policy (0.5) #

PP423 Anticipatory Policymaking (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)

PP424 Happiness and Public Policy (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)

PP426 Public Policy for Blockchains and Digital Assets (0.5) #

PP428 Governing Climate Change: Policy, Politics, and Innovation (0.5)

PP429 Education Politics and Policy (0.5)

PP431 Reimagining Capitalism (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)

PP432 International policymaking, diplomacy and security (0.5)

PP433 Topics in Model Based Quantitative Analysis for Public Policy (0.5) #

PP435 Trade Policy and Development (0.5) #

PP441 Geoeconomics (0.5) #

PP442 The Politics of Tech, Social Media, and the Press (0.5)

PP443 Sustainable Transport: Cities, Policy and Politics (0.5)

PP444 Brave New World: Macroeconomics at Times of Crises (0.5) #

PP445 Public Economics & Development (0.5)

PP448 International Political Economy and Development (0.5)

PP449 Comparative Political Economy and Development (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)

PP452 Applying Behavioural Economics for Social Impact: Design, Delivery, Evaluation and Policy (0.5) # (suspended 2026/27)

PP454 Development Economics (1.0) # (suspended 2026/27)

PP457 Development Economics (0.5) #

PP458 Environmental Economics in Developing Countries (0.5) #

PP465 City-Making: the Politics of Urban Form (0.5)

PP4E5 Innovations in the governance of public services delivery (0.5)

PP4G3 Designing and Managing Change in the Public Sector (0.5) (suspended 2026/27)

PP4J2 New Institutions of Public Policy: Strategic Philanthropy, Impact Investment and Social Enterprise (0.5)

PP4X7 Inequality and Poverty Analysis (0.5)

PP4X8 Social and Multidimensional Inequality Analysis (0.5)

Paper 8

B C D

1.0 or 1.5 unit(s) from Data Sciences:

GV4L3 Data Science Applications in Politics and Policy (0.5) #

GY460 Techniques of Spatial Economic Analysis (0.5) #

HP434 Methods and Data for Health Systems Performance Assessment (0.5)

MA402 Mathematical Game Theory (0.5) #

MA407 Algorithms and Computation (0.5) #

MA423 Optimisation Theory and Modelling (0.5) #

MY423 Interview Methods for Social Science Research (0.5) #

MY456 Survey Methodology (0.5) #

MY459 Computational Text Analysis and Large Language Models (0.5) #

MY461 Social Network Analysis (0.5)

MY470 Computer Programming (0.5)

MY474 Applied Machine Learning for Social Science (0.5) #

MY475 Applied Deep Learning for Social Science (0.5) #

PP434 Automated Data Visualisation for Policymaking (0.5)

ST416 Multilevel Modelling (0.5) # (suspended 2026/27)

ST442 Longitudinal Data Analysis (0.5) #

ST443 Machine Learning and Data Mining (0.5) #

ST446 Distributed Computing for Big Data (0.5) #

ST449 Artificial Intelligence (0.5) #

ST454 Bayesian Data Analysis (0.5) # (suspended 2026/27)

ST455 Reinforcement Learning (0.5) #

ST456 Deep Learning (0.5) #

MY472 Data for Data Scientists (0.5)

ST445 Managing and Visualising Data (0.5) #

Footnotes

# means there may be prerequisites for this course. Please view the course guide for more information.

A: In addition, students may choose courses from elsewhere in LSE not listed in these regulations with approval of the Programme Director and subject to acceptance by the course convenor. Availability of a place on a course outside the School of Public Policy and not listed in these regulations is not guaranteed and is subject to space, regulations, and timetable constraints.

B: Paper 8: MY459: if instructor accepts a year of Econometrics and Data Science for Public Policy as pre-requisites.

C: Paper 8: MY459, MY461 and ST454 require knowledge of R.

D: Paper 8: MY472 can not be taken with ST445.

SUPPLEMENTARY CRITERIA FOR PROGRESSION FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND YEAR OF THE MPA in Data Science for Public Policy

  • Students who attain at least a Pass grade in each of the first-year courses will be eligible to proceed into the second-year of the MPA in Data Science for Public Policy.
  • A student on the MPA in Data Science for Public Policy programme who has attained a Fail grade in courses to the value of 1.0 unit and at least a Pass grade in the remaining courses to the value of 3.0 units will be eligible to proceed into the second year.
  • A student who receives a Bad Fail in any course or who otherwise fails to meet the above criteria for progression will not be able to progress to the second year of the MPA in Data Science for Public Policy programme and will normally be entitled to resit the failed assessments at the next available opportunity.

A student who has failed a course but is still able to progress into the next year of study and/or is eligible for an award once all course assessments have been completed, will not be eligible to resit the failed course/s. 

A student who has completed year one and is unable to complete year two of the MPA in Data Science for Public Policy programme will not receive an interim award.

Note for prospective students:
For changes to graduate course and programme information for the next academic session, please see the graduate summary page for prospective students. Changes to course and programme information for future academic sessions can be found on the graduate summary page for future students.