MPM degree gives graduate new perspectives
MPM graduate Jason Marris has been putting the knowledge he gained to good use in his work as a Governance Support Manager at the Auckland Council.
Jason Marris, MPM graduate putting his learning to work at Auckland Council
How useful is a degree from the School of Government? Is it a nice-to-have, or a genuine career enabler?
It really does help according to Jason Marris, who completed his Master in Public Management (MPM) degree last year and since then has been putting the knowledge he gained to good use in his work.
Jason is the Governance Support Manager - Democracy Services at the Auckland Council and his role includes looking after political meetings and Resource Management Act hearings, and providing support for councillors in areas such as communications and research.
"The MPM has enabled me to broaden my thinking, for example in the field of strategic management. It's helped me to think more critically, too – it's encouraged me to question whether something is being done right or not, and if it isn’t, to think of a better way of doing it," says Jason.
"As a result, my report writing and the recommendations I make have improved – I suppose you could say I have better outputs.”
Juggling MPM studies from Auckland
Jason carried out his MPM studies for three years part-time.
"It did mean I had to juggle my time, as I had a job to do and a family to look after in Auckland, but I enjoyed going down to Wellington every month."
He says that while the core MPM courses were useful, he particularly liked the non-core courses.
"The Economic Policy Challenges for Public Managers course, for instance, I found fascinating. One of my essays was to look at the sale of human organs, both the economic and ethical issues, and how they interrelate.
"More generally, it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the way central and local government work."
The learning environment was well-supported by both lecturers and his fellow students.
"The lecturers at the School of Government were very helpful, very engaged," he comments.
"We had quite a variety of students, some from local government like me, some from central government, and some from overseas.
"Everyone was expected to contribute, and they did, which made for an enriching experience given the variety of backgrounds and experience at play.
"Some of the conversations were quite political, I recall – real no-holds-barred stuff. It really got us thinking."
Jason's manager on the value of an MPM degree
Marguerite Delbet, Jason's manager at Democracy Services, agrees that the MPM degree has helped his career.
"His work was very operationally focused before; now he's able to take a broader, more strategic view of what he does," she says.
"He's more interested in, and more willing to get involved in, other parts of council business. And it's helped his writing, too, as he's able to think in a more structured way now.
"Generally speaking, in local government there tends to be less policy capability than in central government. Courses like the MPM help address this weakness."
Marguerite speaks from experience – she herself has a Master's degree from the School of Government, and had some of the same teachers as Jason.
"I’d recommend the School’s Master's courses for many people working in local government. They raise awareness and open up new perspectives."