PLAN 2010 for School of Public Policy
In 2010, the School of Public Policy will celebrate its 10th anniversary as
a “school” and will be beginning its third decade since its inception
as The Institute of Public Policy. Most, if not all the founding faculty will
have retired. The graduates of our doctoral program will be in senior academic
and executive positions throughout the country and around the world. Graduates
of our masters programs will be in leadership positions in the government, non-profit
and private sectors.
Enrollment
From 2000 to 2003, enrollment in SPP has grown by over 70%, far exceeding plans,
expectations and resources. Virtually all of this growth has occurred at the
masters level, although there has been a strong increase in applications to
the doctoral program. Growth at the masters level has been a combination of
new program initiatives and increased interest in existing programs. During
the next seven years, SPP will continue to grow, albeit at a somewhat reduced
rate. Currently, we enroll approximately 300 new graduate students per year.
By 2010, we plan to enroll 400 new graduate students per year. By 2010, SPP
will enroll nearly 1000 graduate students and will offer an undergraduate degree
program with over 250 majors. In addition, we will conduct executive education
programs enrolling over 200 individuals per year.
Student Breakdown
As SPP continues to grow, the balance among undergraduate, professional masters
and doctoral students will change. By 2010 these ratios will stabilize with
at 20% undergraduate majors, 70% professional masters and 10% doctoral students.
(This
compares with a ratio of 80/20 today between professional masters and doctoral
students.) Within the doctoral program, the balance between full-time and part-time
students, now 25/75, will shift to 75/25. This change will be the result of
our on-going
marketing program that is focused on attracting full-time students from around
the country and throughout the world. The masters level ratio of full-time to
part-time students will be 50/50. Our overall balance among minority, non-minority
and nonresident alien students will remain in the area of 20/65/15 respectively.
At both the undergraduate and professional masters levels, we expect the in-state/out-of-state
ratio to be 75/25. At the doctoral level, the split will remain close to the
current 50/50.
In addition to enrollment growth and the proposed shifts in enrollments across
degree levels, we will continue to raise the standards for admission to our
programs. During the past three years, at the masters level we have steadily
raised the required GPA for admission from a minimum 3.0 to nearly 3.2. While
it is unlikely that we will raise the required GPA much beyond this, given the
expected rise in applications, we will begin to raise the thresholds for other
more qualitative admissions criteria such as the candidate’s statement.
At the doctoral level, we have also been raising minimum standards. While recognizing
that the GRE is not necessarily a predictor of success, we do know from experience
that it is useful in assessing certain skills, especially quantitative, that
are important elements of the program. Like the GPA at the masters level, we
have raised our GRE minimum score over the past few years and expect to require
a minimum of 1250 or its equivalent by 2010. We also will develop a process
to require interviews of all applicants to the doctoral program.
Faculty
During the founding years of the “institute” and through the development
of the “school,” great value was placed on a diverse faculty on
virtually every dimension—ethnicity, gender, age and perhaps most importantly
discipline. The founding faculty included geographers, sociologists, political
scientists, economists and engineers. These were followed by faculty with degrees
in biology, anthropology, urban planning, business and education. The faculty
represented a wide range of “political” perspectives from conservative
to liberal to libertarian. The most significant challenge over the next seven
years will be the recruitment of new faculty, both at the senior and junior
level, who continue to come from widely diverse backgrounds but with strong
commitment and experience in public policy education and research.
The number of faculty will have to increase substantially in order to meet enrollment
demands. We will remain a unit in which most of the teaching is done by regular
faculty, but we will increase the number of adjuncts, contract faculty and graduate
teaching assistants. Overall, we expect the number of regular faculty to reach
nearly 65 full-time equivalent instructional faculty based on these projections.
Educational and demographic diversity will continue to be a core value in the
hiring of faculty as will commitment to education and experience in public policy
research and education.
Academic Programs
During the next seven years, SPP will continue to build on the success of its
three core programs: the Ph.D. in Public Policy, the Master of Arts in International
Commerce and Policy, and the Masters in Public Policy. Existing “boutique”
programs such as those in transportation, organization/knowledge management
and peace operations will remain an important part of the school. We expect
to incubate new programs in areas such as metropolitan policy, policy management
and public sector entrepreneurship. We will be the major center in the National
Capital Region for executive education and training in the public policy arena.
In addition, we will offer undergraduate degrees linked to our two principal
masters degrees—public policy and international commerce and policy in
a 3-1-1 program.
SPP currently offers a series of study abroad programs as elements of both the
masters in International Commerce and Policy and the Masters in Public Policy.
Approximately 30% of our masters students participate in one or more of these
opportunities. We plan to increase the level of participation to 50%. In addition,
SPP is in the process of developing a number of partnerships abroad to offer
our degree programs in cooperation with other institutions/organizations. By
2010, we will have established such programs in India and China.
Facilities
By 2010, SPP will have relocated its academic and research programs to its new
building in Arlington. Through our successful fundraising program, the facility
will include stateof- the-art instructional space as well as public spaces designed
to attract high-level policy forums. The public spaces will have “noble”
finishes funded through the naming endowment for the School. These spaces will
be shared with other units of the university that have programs based in Arlington.
Finances: State, Tuition, Private, Sponsored Programs
SPP has led the university in developing as well as implementing a range of
strategies to reduce its dependence on state funding. During the next seven
years, we anticipate, at best, modest increases in actual state funding dollars.
Further, these funds will continue to decline as a percentage of our overall
annual expenditures. The growth in our funding base will come from new models
of tuition revenue such as differential pricing introduced in 2004, continued
increases in sponsored program activities including increased indirect cost
recovery and endowment support from the expected naming of the school.
Annual expenditures will approach and probably exceed $25 million. Approximately
65 percent of this will be from sponsored program activities. About 40% will
come from E&G expenditures with a significant portion of that attributed
to differential tuition revenues. (During this time period, the differential
tuition program will remain in effect, with the likelihood that the actual differential
may increase. SPP will continue to benchmark its tuition against other institutions
in the region and will remain the most cost competitive.) The remaining 10%
will be generated by various endowments including naming endowments and endowed
chairs.
Sponsored program activities will continue to be central. Both the school’s
leadership and the faculty are committed to expanding this area of activity.
As in the past, SPP will continue to identify and pursue funding opportunities,
especially in those areas where we hold a competitive advantage such as science
and technology policy, transportation and regional development policy. In addition,
as other policy areas become prominent both nationally and internationally,
we will focus our entrepreneurial efforts on those opportunities in particular.
Examples today would include homeland security policy, medical policy and both
domestic and international public finance policy. Private funding will increase
in its overall importance for SPP. Currently, we have endowments for five chairs.
We have enjoyed considerable success in raising funds for specific projects
such as Sesno Reports and the Center for Regional Analysis. The primary fundraising
goal for the next two years will be a naming gift for the School. This process
has been outlined in the previously submitted “Mini Campaign.” We
expect to broaden and deepen this activity.
Mason Enterprise Center
The MEC will continue to serve as a focal point for promoting entrepreneurial
partnerships across the region. Programs such as the statewide Small Business
Development Centers will continue to be managed by the school. The MEC will
strengthen its linkages with academic programs across the university and serve
as both a programmatic and organizational resource. The MEC will become a knowledge
center on how to conduct enterprise development locally, nationally and in a
global context.
2007 Accelerated Benchmarks
It is possible that several of the goals stated above could be reached sooner
that 2010. The major impediment to meeting growth targets is the lack of adequate
facilities, both in terms of quality and quantity. With sufficient shared investments
from university and SPP sources, current facilities could be modestly renovated
to accommodate the projected growth in a manner consistent with a premium priced,
professional graduate program. Alternatives would be to either move the building
schedule forward for Arlington II or, perhaps more practical, move SPP into
the GMUF building upon its projected completion
in 2005.
By hastening enrollment growth, faculty hiring would also be moved forward.
This would likely result in an earlier-than-projected increase in sponsored
program activity. This would lead to a further expanded resource base, enhancing
the return on investment.