MBA/MPP & MBA/MPA-ID Harvard Kennedy School

MBA/MPP & MBA/MPA-ID Harvard Kennedy School

Curriculum

Curriculum

The curriculum includes three courses that are exclusive for students in these two programs: the HBS/HKS Joint Degree Seminar in Year 1 and 2, and the Business-Government Integrative Course called Creating Value in Business and Government, during the fall of Year 3. Also during Year 3, all students complete a year-long capstone exercise at HKS.
Participants generally complement their required and elective studies with two summer internships: either a policy, international development or social enterprise internship in the first summer, and a business-related internship in the second summer.

A typical candidate will follow the sample schedule outlined below.

MBA/MPP Curriculum

Year 1
Harvard Kennedy School


Fall Term
  • Resources, Incentives and Choices I: Markets and Market Failures
  • Quantitative Analysis and Empirical Methods
  • Policy Design and Delivery
  • Race and Racism in the Making of the United States as a Global Power
  • Fundamentals of Negotiation Analysis
  • Enhancing Your Personal Leadership Effectiveness
  • One HKS Elective Course
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HBS faculty


Spring Term

  • Economic Analysis of Public Policy
  • Empirical Methods II
  • Spring Exercise
  • Politics and Ethics in Unstable Times
  • One HKS Elective Course
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HBS faculty


Summer

  • Policy-related or international development-related summer internship (recommended)


Year 2
Harvard Business School


Fall Term
  • Financial Reporting and Control
  • Finance I
  • Marketing
  • Technology and Operations Management
  • Leadership & Organizational Behavior
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HKS faculty


Spring Term

  • Business, Government, and the International Economy
  • Finance II
  • Strategy
  • Leadership and Corporate Accountability
  • The Entrepreneurial Manager
  • FIELD Global Immersion
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HKS faculty


Summer

  • Business-related summer internship (recommended)


Year 3
Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School


Fall Term

3 Elective Courses
  • Business-Government Integrative Course
  • Policy Analysis Exercise (PAE) Seminar


Spring Term

4 Elective Courses

  • Policy Analysis Exercise (PAE) Execution

MBA/MPA-ID Curriculum

Year 1
Harvard Kennedy School


Fall Term
  • Advanced Microeconomic Analysis I
  • Advanced Macroeconomics for the Open Economy I
  • Advanced Quantitative Methods I: Statistics
  • Economic Development: Theory and Evidence
  • Applications and Cases in International Development
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HBS faculty


Spring Term

  • Advanced Microeconomic Analysis II
  • Advanced Macroeconomics for the Open Economy II
  • Advanced Quantitative Methods II: Econometrics
  • The Politics of Development
  • Economic Development: Using Analytic Frameworks for Smart Policy Design
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HBS faculty


Summer

  • International development-related summer internship (required)


Year 2
Harvard Business School


Fall Term
  • Financial Reporting and Control
  • Finance I
  • Marketing
  • Technology and Operations Management
  • Leadership & Organizational Behavior
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HKS faculty


Spring Term

  • Business, Government, and the International Economy
  • Finance II
  • Strategy
  • Leadership and Corporate Accountability
  • The Entrepreneurial Manager
  • FIELD Immersion
  • Joint Degree Program Seminar taught by HKS faculty


Summer

  • Business-related summer internship (recommended)


Year 3
Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School


Fall Term
  • 2 HKS Elective Courses
  • Getting Things Done: Management in a Development Context
  • Normative Principles of Governance in Development
  • Business-Government Integrative Course
  • Democratic Governance Elective (if not taken previously)
  • Second-Year Policy Analysis (SYPA) Seminar


Spring Term

  • 4 Elective Courses at HBS
  • Second-Year Policy Analysis (SYPA) Execution