University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
Department
of Public Policy
The Graduate Minor and Certificate
in Public Policy
The Department of Public Policy offers a formal minor conferring a graduate certificate for interested students enrolled in other policy-related graduate programs at UNC-Chapel Hill. Interested students must be enrolled for a graduate major in any relevant UNC academic unit, and once enrolled may apply to complete the minor requirements as well.
The purpose of the minor is to allow students in related areas of study to complete an appropriate set of public policy courses in addition to their major degree program, and to bring students from these fields into closer contact with other students and faculty who share interests in public policy analysis. The Department of Public Policy will award a certificate to each student who completes the requirements. Certificates may be useful for students seeking jobs that require formal training in public policy analysis. Minors also will be given priority for admission to classes with limited enrollment and (if applicable) for policy-related internships and assistantships that are made available through the Public Policy department.
As an officially recognized minor in the Graduate School, the Graduate School rules for graduate minors apply. The Graduate School requires that all graduate minors comprise at least nine credit hours beyond the major for master’s degree candidates, or at least fifteen credits beyond the major for doctoral candidates. All credits must be for courses listed (or cross-listed) in programs other than that of the major, and cannot also be counted toward the major: students must therefore plan carefully so that their electives are used to fulfill the minor requirements.
A minor may consist of a set of related courses, some of which are listed by one program and some of which are listed by another. In most cases, the minor would not include courses from more than two programs. The Department of Public Policy will be listed as granting the minor, and the director of graduate studies in the Department of Public Policy must agree to accept any courses from outside the minor program offerings. The minor must be approved in advance by the director of graduate studies in both the student’s major program and the Department of Public Policy. When a satisfactory minor has been planned and approved by both programs, a copy of the proposed minor course of study should be signed by the directors of graduate studies in the major and minor programs and sent to the Graduate School to become a permanent part of the student’s record.
Students qualify for a Minor/Certificate in Public Policy upon completion of the following requirements:
- Application to the Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of Public Policy, explaining why a minor is sought and how the student plans to complete the course requirements. The number of students admitted as minors may be limited based on the availability of seats in the required courses.
- Successful completion of prerequisite courses in intermediate microeconomics and statistics. Students who have not had the equivalent of ECON 410[101] or PLAN 710[210] (Economics for Policy and Planning), and of STOR 155[STAT 31], should take these in addition to the courses listed below.
- Completion of the home department’s quantitative methods requirement. If the home department has no such requirement, students should complete either PLCY 460[175] or an approved equivalent course in another department (e.g. PLAN 720[130] or PUBA 719-720[212-237]). This requirement also may be fulfilled by examination, if the equivalent of one of these courses was taken at the undergraduate level.
- Successful completion of an approved graduate-level course of study, developed in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of Public Policy (or his/her designee) and the student’s home department advisor. A minimum of 12 hours of approved public policy courses is required for master’s students, including PLCY 710[205]. A minimum of 16 hours, including PLCY 710[205] and PLCY 810[310], is required for doctoral students.
Specific public policy minor tracks have been developed for students in some other academic units, such as the Master of Public Administration Program and the Environmental Management and Policy track of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering; students in those programs should consult their program directors or student services administrators. All other interested students should use the first form available below:
Public
policy minor application and approval form
Public
policy minor application and approval form -- MPA version
Students with
further questions are welcome to contact either the Assistant Student Services
Manager, Ms. Lennis Carrier, lcarrier@unc.edu, 214 Abernethy Hall) or the Director of Graduate Studies (Professor
Richard Andrews, pete_andrews@unc.edu,
843-5011, 202A Abernethy Hall) of the Department of Public Policy.
