Curriculum

MBA/MPP & MBA/MPA-ID

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

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 & 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

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 & 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