The Public Administration Advisory Committee - 1802 Words

The UIC Public Administration Advisory Committee has assigned Aida Demirovic and Miguel Mosqueda with three tasks (1) creating an engagement alumni plan, (2) incorporating hands-on work experience throughout the program, and (3) increasing curriculum focus to include data analysis and project management. In order to conduct an extensive and in-depth analysis of the three tasks, the team took several approaches. In regard to alumni engagement the team assembled two focus groups. The focus group was chosen for its rich answers and immediate results. The results and analysis will be discussed in the rest of the paper. In regard to hands-on work experience, the team created side-by-side comparison of the top five competing institutions, and†¦show more content†¦While the volume of participants was lower than that of an electronic survey the content was much greater. The only criteria the participants had to meet was that they were alumni or within their last semester of graduati on. The questioner was created by our team, approved by our contact, and looked over by the UIC research lab. Our initial focus group was conduced by October 30th, 2014. This focus group was led by the team and consisted of two male and two female alums of the program. Of the four participants three had concentrated on financial management. One participant had created their concentration with department approval. Of the four participants want double majored in Local government. All of the participants had graduates in either 2013 or 2014. Data to follow. Second focus group to be conducted November 10th, 2014. Data to follow. Hands On Work Experience The UIC Department of Public Administration, with the work from a prior Capstone Team SWAT analysis, identified past and current students want more hands on work experience prior to graduating. In order to ascertain if assisting students obtain more work experience is a feasible project, we have researched the top five competitor programs as identified by the previous capstone team to see if they have or require work experience to graduate. They are as follows and in no specific order: 1. DePaul University 2.Loyola University