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Starting this September, the School of Public Administration will implement a minor in public administration, providing the opportunity for undergraduates in other departments to learn about public sector management.
It will be the only undergraduate university credit program in BC with a public management and non-profit focus and will provide on-campus students with an opportunity to learn through distributed (online) methods.
Students taking the minor in public administration will enhance their skills and knowledge about government and how bureaucracies function, make connections in their major area of study and understand how that knowledge can be applied in future public sector employment.
Given the current demographic trends, the minor is good news for government and non-profit sectors. It is estimated that 40 per cent of the public service can retire by 2011.
“Making linkages and exposing more students to the potential careers within government is a win-win situation,” says Brant Popp, director general for Western Economic Diversification Canada and currently a federal government executive in residence in the School of Public Administration. “I believe this credential will be viewed positively by any government employer,” says Popp, who is also an alumnus of the school.
The school currently boasts many graduates who have gone on to high-profile positions in the federal and public service, including many assistant deputy and deputy ministers.
“The intent of the minor is to give students a range of public and non-profit sector management skills and knowledge,” says Evert Lindquist, director of the school. “Students who plan careers in the public sector will find that this minor could make them more competitive in the job market after graduation,” says Lindquist.
The school is also an important connection to the Deputy Minister University Champion Program, designed to support public administration education and research so that the Public Service of Canada has connections to leading ideas and theories, a new generation of public administration scholars and new employees well-educated in modern public management. Currently, Oryssia Lennie, deputy minister of Western Economic Diversification Canada, is the deputy minister champion for UVic under this program.
Through funding from the Ministry of Advanced Education and the Office of Indigenous Affairs at UVic, the School of Public Administration and the National Centre for First Nations Governance have developed and delivered two pilot courses that will be part of a proposed Certificate in First Nations Governance, Administration and Management. The new university credit certificate will include courses that address the knowledge and managerial skills that administrators in First Nations governments and organizations require to deliver services to First Nations communities.
For more information visit http://publicadmin.uvic.ca.
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