You will take four units of courses in your second year. Your only compulsory course is the MPA Capstone. The remaining three units will be made up of option courses. By taking and passing specific courses you will have an option to add a specialism to your degree. You are not required to do this and if you prefer, you can graduate with an MPA degree without any specialism.
The MPA Capstone
The MPA Capstone is a compulsory one unit course, which will provide you with an opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills for a real client organisation. As part of this project, you will research and analyse solutions for public policy issues faced by a notable public or private organisation.
In the past, a wide variety of organisations have hosted Capstone projects, including Boston Consulting Group, DFID, OCED, UNESCO, and the Gates Foundation.
Specialisms
To be eligible for a specialism, you must pass the required courses in that specialism. You may only specialise in one particular field.
You can specialise your degree in one of the following fields:
Option Courses
As a second-year MPA student, you can select a number of option courses (electives) offered by the School of Public Policy, or (with permission and subject to availability) elsewhere in LSE.
As part of your option courses you can choose to write a Policy Paper (6,000 words) or Dissertation (10,000 words), though neither is required. Based upon your academic interests and career aspirations, you can choose which is right for you.