Skip to main content
Back to King's College London homepage

King's College London

You are viewing a course in < Policy and society
Postgraduate degree

Public Policy MA

Loading...

The Public Policy MA is a multi- disciplinary course that covers policy making and analysis, comparative public policy, public sector economics, governance and public management, and ethics and public policy. You will focus on the critical issues and key developments relating to public policy, such as governance, globalisation and policy evaluation. This course will equip you with the analytical and critical skills relevant for understanding the challenges relating to the design, evaluation and implementation of public policies.

Key benefits

  • You will learn to think analytically and independently about key issues in public policy.
  • You will be trained to integrate theories and evidence from political science, ethics and political economy.
  • You will develop essential skills to master qualitative and quantitative research methods.
  • Project placement (internship) providing you with future employment opportunities and the chance to study different public service areas.
  • A highly flexible study programme, drawing on a broad range of professional experience and disciplinary expertise.
  • Regular speakers from UK-based government departments, public sector bodies, NGOs and policymaking units who discuss the implementation and evaluation of public policies.

Loading...

Employability

Our graduates go on to work in a variety of public sector management and policy-oriented positions. Typical career destinations include:

  • Policy Advisor in the Civil Service
  • Research Assistant at Boston Group Consulting
  • Policy Analyst at Homes England
  • Trainee at The European Commission's Humanitarian Action Service (ECHO)
  • Press Officer for an MEP
  • PhD student at Hertie School in Berlin
  • Working in the policy and analysis section of a large London embassy
  • Policy Adviser to the Chairperson of a major transport organisation
  • Senior Analyst in the Ministry of Industry and Trade of a developing country
  • Health service leadership positions with responsibility for multi-million-pound budgets

Curious to find out more? Access on-demand content including taster lectures and talks, and meet our current staff and students on our subject hub page.

Loading...

Employability

Our graduates go on to work in a variety of public sector management and policy-oriented positions. Typical career destinations include:

  • Policy Advisor in the Civil Service
  • Research Assistant at Boston Group Consulting
  • Policy Analyst at Homes England
  • Trainee at The European Commission's Humanitarian Action Service (ECHO)
  • Press Officer for an MEP
  • PhD student at Hertie School in Berlin
  • Working in the policy and analysis section of a large London embassy
  • Policy Adviser to the Chairperson of a major transport organisation
  • Senior Analyst in the Ministry of Industry and Trade of a developing country
  • Health service leadership positions with responsibility for multi-million-pound budgets

Curious to find out more? Access on-demand content including taster lectures and talks, and meet our current staff and students on our subject hub page.

Application closing date guidance

We encourage you to apply as early as possible so that there is sufficient time for your application to be assessed. We may need to request further information from you during the application process.

King's College London is committed to the recruitment of students with the greatest academic ability and to maintain a diverse student population. In order to ensure a balanced international student population for our most competitive programmes, we have implemented the following deadlines:

For applicants who are currently residing in mainland China, the first application deadline is 10 January 2025 (23:59 UK time).

  • We highly encourage you to apply by this deadline due to high demand, but applications will continue to be reviewed thereafter until the final application deadline on 9 March 2025 (23:59 UK time).
  • If you reside in mainland China and apply for this programme after the above final deadline, your application may be automatically withdrawn and you will not be eligible for an application fee refund.

For all other applicants, our first application deadline is on 9 March 2025 (23:59 UK time). The final application deadlines for this programme are:

  • Overseas (international) fee status: 25 July 2025 (23:59 UK time)
  • Home fee status: 25 August 2025 (23:59 UK time)

After the first application deadline in March:

  • if the programme is not yet full, we will continue to accept applications until all available places are filled up to the final application deadlines above
  • if the programme becomes full before the final application deadlines stated above, we will close the programme to further applications

Please note, you will not be eligible for an application fee refund if you apply after the first application deadline, and we are unable to process further offers because places are filled and we close the course before the final application deadline.

Loading...

Contact us

King's Contact Centre

Related departments

Open days and events

Chat with current students and King's staff to find out about the courses we offer, life at King's and ask any questions you may have.

Explore More