Spending a week in a South African township may not sound like a typical MBA field trip. Nor does it seem obviously relevant to working in the public sector. But students taking the master of public administration (MPA) degree at the University of Warwick visit the townships to learn about strategies for combating poverty, says Professor John Benington, the programme director.

Others visit the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland as an example of public management in a nonethical world. “This stretches people intellectually and morally,” Benington explains.

The public sector has been slower than the private sector to offer postgraduates opportunities. Until recently the only courses available were the business-centred MBA or academic masters in public administration or social policy. These are still useful for people working in roles that require analytical skills such as policy, research or planning, and the London School of Economics offers a host of well-regarded courses.

But the professional landscape began to change in 2000 when the MPA was set up as a specialist management qualification for those working in local government, the police, education and the health service.

The Warwick course invites top public servants, including Sir Gus O’Donnell, head of the Civil Service, and former heads of the NHS, to talk frankly to students about what is working well and what is not.

Benington says former students have trebled their salaries and “have new tools for getting things done”. More than 1,000 people have taken the course so far and, while it is not as well known as the traditional MBA, it is becoming increasingly recognised. The Open University now runs a distance learning MPA.

However, Jack Markiewicz, of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association and director of human resources at Swindon Council, argues that traditional MBAs are “the order of the day”. The personal networks that they encourage enable students to make useful business contacts, while commercial acumen is increasingly relevant, he says. “We are working more in partnership with the private sector and community groups. This council is run like a business – the old approach to public administration is no longer relevant.”

Saïd Business School, at Oxford University, and Judge Business School, at Cambridge University, allow MBA students to focus on the public sector as part of the course. The National School of Government, which works to improve professional skills in the public sector, offers part-time MBAs in association with several businesss schools.

Meanwhile, the National Graduate Development Programme run by the Improvement and Development Agency, part of the Local Government Association, offers aspiring public sector managers the chance to take a postgraduate diploma in public administration, combining study with on the job training.

Leader has an edge

Carolyn Wilkins, the chief executive of Rossendale Borough Council, started her local government career as a graduate trainee. After rising through the ranks to become the assistant chief executive of Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, she realised that she wanted to improve her skills and to gain a qualification to underpin her experience.

Wilkins began a diploma in management studies but gave it up. “It was quite private sector based, looking at traditional models of leadership. I didn’t feel it was relevant for me,” she says.

She heard about the new MPA qualification at Warwick University and was one of the first students on the course. Her classmates included members of the fire and police services, public servants from the NHS and the Home Office and local councillors.

Looking at how public services are delivered in different contexts is a key focus of the course. Wilkins visited Johannesburg learning about the experience of public sector managers under apartheid. The class also worked with a prison on solving real-life problems.

“The sheer pace of doing the degree when you have a full-time job is challenging,” she says but adds: “The MPA gave me the confidence to lead.” After finishing the course in 2004, she did a doctorate in leadership and collaboration at Sheffield Hallam University.