Hertie School of Governance

The [http://www.hertie-school.org Hertie School of Governance] (HSoG) is the first privately financed, all-English professional school in the German higher education landscape. In conjunction with a number of other recent initiatives to help improve the international visibility of German higher education, it marks an important development in the opening of the higher education sector in Germany. The HSoG was founded in December 2003 by the [http://www.ghst.de/willkommen.php Hertie Foundation] , which invested an initial 25 million euros for the first few years. The school was initially located in the historic Staatsratgebäude in central Berlin before moving to its current premises in the equally historic Friedrichstraße.

The HSoG's Master of Public Policy (MPP) aims to educate highly-qualified students for leadership positions in the public sector. Teaching and research are interdisciplinary and focus on modern governance in a transnational and interdependent world. In its teaching methods, the school tries to combine practice orientation with the insights drawn from in-depth academic research. The school is modelled on Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, as well as Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. The school was established in close cooperation with Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

The School is a member of [http://www.appam.org/home.asp APPAM] as well as [http://www.igloo.org/policynet PolicyNet] .

The Faculty

The Faculty presently consists of Dean Michael Zürn, Ulrich K. Preuss, Claus Offe, Jobst Fiedler, Markus Jachtenfuchs, Alexander Graser, Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Anke Hassel, Henrik Enderlein, Steven Finkel, Kai Wegrich, Mark Hallerberg, Stein Kuhnle, as well as a number of adjuncts (for example, Fraser Cameron, Hans Peter Grüner, Sonja Wälti, Alastair McFarlane, Kenneth Newton, Gunnar Folke Schuppert, and Wolfgang Seibel). In addition, guests like Georg Sørensen and Stephen F. Szabo complement the faculty.

Master of Public Policy (MPP)

The Hertie School of Governance is the first private university to offer a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree in Germany. Teaching began in the fall of 2005. The curriculum combines microeconomics, macroeconomics, political management, political science, law, sociology, and related fields. The teaching is practice-oriented, using case studies from a variety of policy areas. Between the two years, students have to complete an intership, which culminates in a thesis addressing a policy problem the internship institution encounters. The tuition fee is set at 10.000 euros per year. A significant number of scholarships is available to ensure need-blind admission.

One of the distinguishing features of the Hertie School of Governance is its international character. It is incorporated into a wide-ranging, high-quality institutionalised network of academic partners. Cooperation ranges from student exchange to curriculum development. The HSoG's main partners are the founding institutions of the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), which consists of the School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University in New York City, as well as the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris. Students have the possibility to participate in dual degree programmes with Sciences Po and LSE or spend a semester/year studying at Columbia's SIPA in New York. Furthermore, students can spend a term at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University or at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

The HSoG has also established a PhD scholarship programme with the non-profit research organisation RAND, where a few selected students can obtain a two year full scholarship, as well as a living stipend to attend Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica (USA).

The first class (Class of 2007) was composed of 30 students from 18 countries. The second class is composed of 48 students from 14 countries. In 2007, 61 students from 22 countries commenced their studies at the Hertie School. In 2008, the number rose to 101 students from 36 different countries.

HSoG as Forum for Public Debate

Recent public events held at the HSoG include the Intellectual Live8 that was attended by Bob Geldof and a reading of Martin Heidegger's letters written to Hannah Arendt by the German Minister of Finance Peer Steinbrück.

References

* The Hertie School of Governance [http://www.hertie-school.org Website]
* [http://www.tagesspiegel.de/magazin/karriere/Karriere;art292,1804006 Article] from the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel on the first graduating class
* The Intellectual Live8 [http://www.il8.org/index.html Website]
* [https://www.e-fellows.net/show/detail.php/10481 Article] on e-fellows.net (a German student network) on the Hertie School of Governance
* [http://www.topuniversities.com/gradschool/schools/data/school_profile/default/hertieschoolgovernance/ List of Graduate Schools]