Master's in International Development & Public Policy

• Discovery Week

1st Semester

• Mandatory Courses
• Elective Courses
• Modules
• Seminars
• Career Development Program – Mastering Your Career
• Mentoring Program

2nd Semester

• Mandatory Courses
• Elective Courses
• Seminars
• Modules

• Work Project (PAP - Policy Analysis Project, a format exclusive to this master and strongly recommended)

• Development Economics I
  This course aims to discuss poverty traps and foreign aid’s effectiveness. Natural resources and ethnic divisions will follow. Good institutions will be portrayed as improving development. We will then examine democracy and corruption.
• Development Economics II
  The broad objective of the course is to give students an overview of current knowledge of development economics. We also aim to offer basic research skills: we will often take the perspective of a researcher/analytic policy maker in this field. Both theory and empirics will be tackled. The course will introduce the main evaluation methods used in impact measurement of development interventions.
• International Relations and Organizations
  The objectives of this course are to explain and discuss the institutionalization of multilateral international order, focusing on the second half of the 20th century. The course is divided into four main thematic areas:
  1. Main theoretical perspectives of the international order and its institutionalization.
  2. Historical circumstances of the formulation of the order and its translation into international institutions.
  3. Functioning of the main institutions.
  4. Adaptation of institutions to the change in the post-Cold War international order.
• Policy Appraisal
  The course aims to prepare the student in terms of econometrics for Policy Evaluation, providing knowledge and understanding of the economic tools used to evaluate and assess public investments and policies. The core of the course is introductory econometric content, aiming to bridge the gap between Statistics for Policy Action and Policy Evaluation. This econometric background is taught through practical examples of policy evaluation in governments and international institutions. The course also covers the basics of Cost Benefit Analysis and qualitative evaluation tools, as complementary approaches to quantitative policy appraisal.
• Public Policy I
  A foundational course on the microeconomic approach to public policy, covering the main goals and tools of government intervention in the economy, and addressing a wide range of topics that include externalities, public goods, mixed goods (with a focus on education), social insurance programs (social security, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, worker compensation, health insurance), poverty-alleviation programs, and taxation.
• Statistics for Policy Action
  A course on statistical techniques with an emphasis on public policy-oriented case studies. The course completes the classical vision on parametric statistics and also offers a brief introduction to probability theory and to the basic concepts of Statistics with the aim of better understanding real datasets, by quantifying, summarizing through measures and graphically representing datasets, in order to facilitate decision making processes in a context of uncertainty.
• Policy Evaluation for Public Policy
  Does public policy work? How much of a difference does it make? Are its benefits sufficiently strong to exceed its costs? These are some of the questions addressed by this intermediate course in quantitative methods. The course will overview the main policy evaluation methods and their context, as well as promote an intuitive understanding of the most important impact evaluation methods, including practical applications using the Stata software. The course aims to support students who may be involved with policy evaluations in the future, including in their Policy Analysis Projects.
• Politics for Policy
  Politics For Policy is an introductory course combining concepts from politics and economics to address the nature, design, and impact of public policy initiatives. The course builds on a large and diverse body of academic work from the disciplines of Political Science and Economics to address issues of relevance to the field of Public Policy, including concepts and methods, topics, and applications. The students will become proficient with several frameworks of analysis in public policy and policymaking, the institutions that shape policy, and the different stakeholders and policy objectives that policymakers need to balance.
• Public Policy II
  This course focuses on the role of the government in the economy. The aim is to provide an understanding of the reasons for government intervention in the economy, empirically analyzing the benefits of possible government policies and the response of economic agents to the government's actions in real-word applications. The course will give students an introduction to frontier research and policy applications in economics and social science in a non-technical manner. In this context, the course will also introduce basic methods in data science, including regression and causal inference.
• Management
  This course is intended for undergraduate students providing an overview of the different functional areas of management, emphasizing, namely, the way economics can be used for decision-making in a business. Whenever relevant will address the peculiarities of public sector management.
• Markets, Incentives, and Behaviour
  The aim of this course is to review the main principles of microeconomics, to train the student in the use of economic analysis to identify market failures. In the first part, the course introduces the basic theories of the firm, of consumption, and of price adjustment and market dynamics in a well-functioning economy. Then, it addresses the main types of market failures, and discusses the eventual policy tools to address these failures.
• Policy Analysis Exercise
  This course is intended to prepare students for the Policy Analysis Project.
  The course will introduce students to a collection of possible projects and associated institutions, while also exposing the student body to materials that foster the acquisition of practical and research skills and tools. The main purpose is to smooth the process of acquisition of a range of approaches and topical knowledge for a successful Policy Analysis Project.

Discover some of the most popular electives:

• CIRCULAR ECONOMY: Eliminate, Circulate and Regenerate
• Economics of Health Systems
• European Union: Governance and Crises
• Geoeconomics and International Relations
• Global Energy Markets
• Impact Investments
• Organizing for Good in the digital age
• Sovereign Advisory

Explore the program brochure to learn more about all available options.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) – MIDPP Policy Analysis Project (PAP)

The PBL is a dynamic learning methodology where students work in groups (3 to 5 students) through active exploration of real challenges or problems for a real-life organization. Students will be part of an interdisciplinary team (supported by mentors, partners and a Nova SBE advisor).

The PBL – MIDPP PAP relies on partnerships with public, non-profit and private organizations with the purpose of solving specific policy problems and increasing the employability of the students. It is developed in groups, typically of 3-5 students and prepared for the third semester (September-December) through a project-based learning initiative in collaboration and orientation of an academic supervisor. The PAP is pre-coordinated with the courses during the academic year and is evaluated as a master’s thesis in January.

The work project entails addressing the challenge with a written report that must include both individual contributions and a group contribution. 

This format is highly recommended for students and should be the preferred choice.

Field Lab 

Students work in groups studying a company/sector, integrating distinct knowledge areas. Most work is team based, although students must present individual reports on specific developments around the core research program. 

Directed Research Internship 

Individual dissertation undertaken by the student in the organization in which he/she is doing an internship. The student will have an advisor from Nova SBE and a Company tutor. The project must be approved by the Academic Director.

Directed Research* 

Individual dissertation where students showcase their knowledge and expertise by investigating a research problem of scientific nature in a relevant area of interest. 

* This format is generally reserved for those intending on pursuing their studies 

Each program has two compulsory modules to be completed by students:

• Ethics
• Sustainability

Mastering Your Career (MYC) is a mandatory Master's graduation requirement, worth 2 ECTS. It offers a valuable opportunity to expand learning beyond the classroom and empowers students to make the most of their journey at Nova School of Business & Economics.

Grading is based upon the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), a grading scale developed to understand better and compare grades given, according to different national systems.

We did the math for you and the awarding of ECTS grades breaks down as follows:

42 ECTS
in Mandatory Courses

14 ECTS
in Elective Courses (minimum)

2 ECTS
in Modules

2 ECTS
in Mastering Your Career Activities

30 ECTS
in the Work Project

90 ECTS in total to graduate
You need a minimum of 90 ECTS to complete your Master's, but if you need 120 ECTS to proceed with your studies, you can extend your Master's by one semester with elective courses (30 ECTS).