Events
Strategic & Performance Management
Monday, 03.11.2025 | 11:00 am – Wednesday, 05.11.2025 | 4:00 pm (CET)
The first part of this course centres on explaining the foundations of strategic management. This includes a discussion of what strategy actually entails specifically in a public-sector context, and how strategic planning relates to strategic management. Indeed, strategic planning is perhaps the most popular managerial approach in contemporary organizations – but what is it, how does it fit within a strategic management system and (when) does it actually “work” (or not)? At the heart of this elaboration lies the idea that strategic management is, above all, something managers, policymakers and other professional “do” – and underlying the success of strategic management are the core concepts of strategic thinking, strategic acting and strategic learning. Strategic management should thus be, above all, not a series of fixed “steps” but, rather, a set of tools and approaches that practitioners can draw on, taking into account their context and the issue at hand, and with the aim of achieving better performance.
This seminar is offered as part of the Executive MPA programme and in the open enrolment programme.
On-site event
Looking at the Future: Foresight & Scenario-Building Methods
Thursday, 06.11.2025 | 9:00 am – Friday, 07.11.2025 | 6:00 pm (CET)
In recent years, different forecasting and foresight approaches have been developed in the social sciences that include both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and that have found a wide range of applications. Prominent among them are scenario building and related foresight approaches for developing detailed portraits of plausible alternative futures. They offer policy analysts theoretically informed and methodologically sound knowledge about the challenges and opportunities possible futures might present. These methods form a practical set of tools for gaining better understanding of alternative developments, events and outcomes. The course will review scenario approaches and look at a range of applications. During the first sessions, we will discuss the range of topics of interest to students and develop a work plan for conducting in-class scenario exercises.
This seminar is offered as part of the Executive MPA programme and in the open enrolment programme.
On-site event
Public Affairs
Tuesday, 18.11.2025 | 9:00 am – Wednesday, 19.11.2025 | 4:00 pm (CET)
This intensive two-day workshop is designed for professionals looking to enhance their knowledge of public affairs and government relations. Through interactive sessions, case studies, and hands-on exercises, participants will learn:
- The basics of policy analysis and advocacy campaigns
- Stakeholder engagement to build and manage relationships with policymakers
- Strategies for navigating public affairs challenges and mitigate risks
- How to develop and implement effective public affairs strategies.
Key topics include lobbying frameworks, audience mapping, crisis management, and measuring success. This skills course provides actionable insights and practical skills.
This seminar is offered as part of the Executive MPA programme and in the open enrolment programme.
On-site event
Bureaucracies & Evidence-Based Policy-Making
Thursday, 20.11.2025 | 11:00 am – Saturday, 22.11.2025 | 4:00 pm (CET)
Bringing evidence to policymaking is a critical challenge for today’s policymakers at all levels of government. On the one hand, demand for supporting policy designs and implementation practices with knowledge, information and research is ever-increasing, putting pressure on programme managers and policymakers at various levels to step up their game and be well-versed in the craft of policy research. At the same time, the social, political and media environment makes the rational use of knowledge and research more difficult – knowledge and information becomes contested, ignored and side-lined in a world shaped by the increasingly powerful role of digital media and social polarization.
Debates about evidence-based policy often focus on two worlds: the world of research and the world of politics. This take underestimates the critical role of the bureaucracy in policy-making as well as its various linkages with external experts and advisors; and reforms to promote evidence-based policy often fail to grasp these realities. That is why the course combines insights from research on the role of evidence with those from the world of politics and bureaucracy.
This seminar is offered as part of the Executive MPA programme and in the open enrolment programme.
On-site event
Managing Non-Profit & Non-Governmental Organisations
Monday, 24.11.2025 | 9:00 am – Tuesday, 25.11.2025 | 6:00 pm (CET)
The increased importance of non-profit organizations -- as service providers, as vehicles of developmental or humanitarian assistance, as policy advocates and social innovators, and as instruments of government reform and privatization -- have moved this set of institutions closer to the centre of policy agendas. Yet there is disagreement as to what management model applies to non-profit organizations: is their management basically a version of business management or public management. Or could it be that a separate approach is needed that takes fuller account of their distinct characteristics as value-based organizations with multiple stakeholders and complex revenue structures?
The course will briefly introduce the conceptual background and examine the various theories that have been proposed, and soon focus on organizational governance, performance, management models, and business plans. The course is a mixture of lectures, discussions, and practical applications.
This seminar is offered as part of the Executive MPA programme and in the open enrolment programme.
On-site event