A Message from the Executive Director
The Master of Public Policy (MPP) in Digital Society offers an immersive, cohort-based learning opportunity in a small class setting that blends traditional graduate seminars with skill-building that complements classroom conversations and translates directly into the policy work.
Designing, debating, and evaluating policy options in and for a digital context demands a confident curiosity and a critical, integrative lens that the MPP in Digital Society works to build with our co-teaching model that pairs anchor academics with policy practitioners in the classroom.
We also take a remote-first approach to learning, which is somewhat unusual in a graduate setting. While the program was forged in a pandemic context, we believe that the digital learning experience is productive training for a working world that blends in-person opportunities with remote and distributed sites of inquiry. This also means that our classes are composed of people from different geographies across Canada which can help infuse place-based perspectives into classroom discussions.
We are constantly working with our teaching team and study body to iterate on and enhance the student experience, ensuring alignment with the needs of a range of industry partners that are thoughtful actors in a policymaking ecosystem that demands collaborative inquiry. I’m looking forward to working with and learning from you as we continue to facilitate policy leadership for a digital society.
Best wishes,
A degree that meets the moment
Digital innovations are actively reshaping our societies. Governments, industry, and civil society are grappling with ways to develop effective public policy responses to the opportunities and challenges presented by digital technology.
The MPP in Digital Society is a professional degree that combines seminar-based learning, case studies, skills labs, and experiential education opportunities to develop a set of core competencies at the intersection of digital technology and public policy. The interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on developing the theory and skills necessary to ensure that students develop, and are able to demonstrate, mastery of public policy fundamentals, foundational informatics, and the base mechanics of digital technologies.
The aim of the program is to train prospective policy leaders to navigate the rapidly changing dynamics of the technological landscape so as to more effectively address the complex social, political, and economic challenges that have accompanied the Digital Age. By leveraging their training as both technologists and policymakers, graduates of the program will be prepared to lead interdisciplinary teams in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. They will be well placed to advance innovative solutions to complex public policy challenges resulting from the advancement of digital technologies.
