Master of Science in
Public Management

Laurea Magistrale in Public Management

A new perspective to foster organizational change and performance improvement in the public sector

Why our Master in Public Management will be useful for your career?

The Master program in Public Management (LAUREA MAGISTRALE IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT) is delivered by the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Palermo (Italy). The Master in PM is taught entirely in English, and it is an excellent way to build on your experience so far and enhance your career prospects.
One of the unresolved problems in public sector research and practice is the evaluation and improvement of results produced by invested resources. While decision making, performance, and accountability provide a robust agenda on which research and practice have been working with specific reference in the private sector, it seems that many experiences matured over the years from success and failure in this regard cannot be easily transposed to the public sector. In fact, it is claimed thatthe public sector has its specific complexity, which requires proper ‘lenses’ to frame the problems and to figure out alternative ways to manage them. The Master in Public Management aims to prepare students for an international career in performance management, planning, policy design, and sustainability analysis.
The program will teach students how to design and implement dynamic performance management systems in public sector organizations and to a wide variety of real world inter-institutional settings, e.g. urban areas. An international orientation in Management education does not imply losing the cultural roots that each student holds. It, rather, means building on them: training students must enable them to work in an international labor market and to add value to such market by bringing his/her home culture.
The Master of Science in Public Management adopts a practical approach, involving concrete case-studies discussion, comparative analysis, and empirical work developed in computer laboratories. To this end, students are engaged in teamwork and supported step-by-step by our faculty in advancing in their learning process.
The Master of Science in Public Management gives students the possibility to spend one or two semesters attending a foreign university to develop their thesis under the supervision of professors or other professionals working in the field

Target applicants hold a bachelor title and can communicate in English. A certified knowledge of English proficiency is a preferential title to be admitted to the program:
- Management studies
- Public Management
- Political Sciences
- Law
- Systems or Industrial Engineering
- Information Sciences
- Urban studies.

Download Full Program Description
  • Prof. Carmine Bianchi

    Dynamic performance management is an approach implying a continuous learning-oriented process in planning and implementation

    Watch a video about Dynamic Performance Management

Purpose of the Master program

The Master in Public Management offered by the Department of International Studies (DEMS) at the University of Palermo (Italy) aims to face a specific need of public administrations: to support coordination in policy design, implementation, and performance management, between different components of the public sector, i.e.:
- Political and administrative decision makers;
- Agencies in a same institutional setting;
- Agency departments;
- Departmental levels;
- Institutions in a same territorial context (e.g. a urban area).
To pursue coordination and good performance in steering today’s dynamics, good technical skills and experience of line managers are no longer a sufficient condition. New professional expertise and leadership are also needed to support the political and administrative roles through well-trained staff professionals.
Mastering Public sector performance management and organization design, and framing them into the wider institutional and juridical system are the core of a professional profile that can significantly contribute to a shift of mind in the public sector. This is expected to balance good outcome with efficiency, to foster sustainable community development.

Syllabus

1st Year
Semester 1
- Normative policy analysis (6 ECTS)
- Competitition law (9 ECTS)
- International Criminal Justice (6 ECTS)
- Economics of Cultural Markets (10 ECTS)
- International Trade Law (6 ECTS)
Semester 2
- Planning & Control Systems (10 ECTS)
- Performance Management in the Public Sector (12 ECTS)
- Business Strategy (8 ECTS)
2nd Year
Semester 1
- Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the Public Sector (6 ECTS)
- Models and Techniques for Human Resources Assessment and Development (9 ECTS)
- Global Politics (6 ECTS)
- Elective subject (each student will choose it among a list of extra available subjects delivered at the University of Palermo – 9 ECTS)
- Internship (6 ECTS)
Semester 2
- Thesis (30 ECTS)

Cereer Prospects

The Master in Public Management aims to prepare students for an international career in performance management, planning, policy design, and sustainability analysis.
The program will teach you how to design and implement dynamic performance management systems in public sector organizations, and to a wide variety of real world inter-institutional settings, e.g. urban areas.
A particular emphasis of this program is dedicated to designing model-based problems structuring interventions (e.g. scenario planning), to enhance performance management systems. To enable you to do this the program will teach you process consultation and group facilitation skills. These skills will enable you to develop the flexibility required to be successful within European and global organizations, whether it be major consultancy firms, strategic planning departments of larger corporations, public administrations or NGOs.

Contact info

For any qyestions regarding the Master Programme feel free to contact
Carmine Bianchi carmine.bianchi@unipa.it or bianchi.carmine@gmail.com
Full Professor in Business and Public Managemen - Program Director
Enzo Bivona enzo.bivona@unipa.it
Associate Professor of Business Management
Federico Cosenz federico.cosenz@unipa.it
Assistant Professor in Business & Public Management

English Language Courses

The Univeristy of Palermo is offering for all Students free english courses with mother-tongue teachers. You can find all the announcements at the CLA website.
The course are taught at CLA (Centro linguistico di Ateneo), Piazza S. Antonino, 1 - 90134 PALERMO (PA) +390916169615 - +3909123899263 cla@unipa.it

How to apply

The application must be completed through UNIPA website. At this link you can find all the information. Foreign students better look here
You can download the Unipa App for iOS and Android

  • Anastasia Vasilyeva

    Anastasia Vasilyeva

    My name is Anastasia Vasilyeva and i'm a student of Public Management
    My choice to undertake the Public Management course due to the several opportunities, that each student can find out. The subjects are conducted entirely in English, which obviously gives the possibility to enrich your own vocabulary. Actually, as we know, English is the most required language in each working place. Besides, the Public Management course helps to expand the cultural background through the opportunity to meet the people with different cultures, that come from different parts of the world. Finally, the course is structured in such way, that fails to point out on the material, which in may own view, is perfectly relevant to the administrative area and it offers a great opportunity within the job market. As a result, if you are interested in making an unforgettable experience, that will contribute to your future, it's a course to be taken without some doubts!

    Naser Mutasem

    Naser Mutasem

    I am Jordanian, I was born in Amman 26/04/1992.
    'Arriving at the faculty each day with a smile, ready to learn and to work in an active multicultural environment has improved my skills dramatically. Actually what motivated me to study M.Sc. in Public Management is my passion to know how the Public entities manage themselves especially European countries. If you're looking for opportunity to improve your skills finding the future job, I would highly advise you M.Sc. in Public Management.

    What Students say about our Master in Public Management

  • Giovanni Tumminello

    Giovanni Tumminello

    I'm 24 years old, I'm from Italy. I chose to attend the Msc in Public Management since it could be a springboard for my future international career. The environment is stimulating; students come from all over the world with their different cultures and backgrounds. The professors are very skilled and they take care of the personal academic and professional development of their students. The international network of universities to which the master program is linked and the many possibilities to attend part of the course abroad, should be seen as a further stimulus to enroll for those prospective students who would like to pursue an international career. Personally, I would suggest to anybody who is interested in international management studies to join our great group attending the Master Program in Public Management.

    Francesca Randazzo

    Francesca Randazzo

    My name is Francesca, I'm 25 years old and I come from Italy. I chose to attend the Master in Public Management because I thought it was a big opportunity. Actually, thanks to this master I had the chance to learn the field of Public management practices, the possibility to improve my English and to have the possibility to meet new people from all the world: I had the chance to compare myself with them, learning more about other countries and discovering new points of view and perspectives that I would never imagined before. At the end, this Master is more than I expected, it gave me precious experiences and tools that I will bring with me in the future

    What Students say about our Master in Public Management

  • Aya Waleed Khassawneh

    Aya Waleed Khassawneh

    My name is Aya Waleed Khassawneh, I'm 23 years old. I was born in Amman, Jordan.
    I am pleased in attending this course, it has a lot of subjects that caught my attention, the core of this course will help me achieve my future goals and will resemble a milestone through my pathin order to reach my desired academic goal.

    Nour Waleed Khassawneh

    Nour Waleed Khassawneh

    My name is Aya Waleed Khassawneh, I'm 23 years old. I was born in Amman, Jordan.
    I am very pleased and overwhelmed with my choice for taking Public Management as a master degree course at the University of Palermo, it is a very diverse and interesting one!

    What Students say about our Master in Public Management