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WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

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Are They Connected?<br />

Exploring Academic <strong>and</strong> Social Networks<br />

Among MPA Students at a<br />

Chinese University<br />

Bin Chen<br />

The City University <strong>of</strong> New York at Baruch College<br />

Feng Wang <strong>and</strong> Jianmin Song<br />

Shanghai University <strong>of</strong> Finance <strong>and</strong> Economics<br />

ABSTRACT<br />

As a complement to traditional scholarship concerned with the production,<br />

transfer, <strong>and</strong> practical utility <strong>of</strong> management knowledge in a pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

graduate degree program, this paper focuses on relational benefits <strong>of</strong> MPA<br />

learning <strong>and</strong> education. 1 In this exploratory study, we investigated the extent to<br />

which academic, career advice, friendship, <strong>and</strong> socio-emotional support networks<br />

were developed among a cohort <strong>of</strong> students at a Chinese university’s MPA<br />

program. We applied a social network approach to examining the structural<br />

characteristics <strong>of</strong> the four networks. We found that MPA students at this<br />

study site have developed more extensive academic <strong>and</strong> friendship than career<br />

advice <strong>and</strong> socio-emotional support networks. Students also strengthened their<br />

interactions by building multiple relationships across the different networks.<br />

Over the past 30 years <strong>of</strong> economic reform, China made giant strides from a<br />

planned economy to an increasingly competitive market economy. Government<br />

administrative systems play a critical role in state strategic development <strong>and</strong><br />

governance. These transformations pose great challenges for the new generation<br />

<strong>of</strong> civil servants <strong>and</strong> call for them to develop new skills to initiate <strong>and</strong> manage<br />

these transformational changes. In responding to these challenges, in 2001,<br />

Chinese universities started to <strong>of</strong>fer a Master <strong>of</strong> <strong>Public</strong> Administration (MPA)<br />

degree program to train executives working in government <strong>of</strong>fices <strong>and</strong> the<br />

social sector. Currently as many as 100 Chinese universities have been granted<br />

JPAE 18(1), 137–156<br />

Journal <strong>of</strong> <strong>Public</strong> <strong>Affairs</strong> Education 137

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