A career in public administration offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact and drive positive change in your community. Public administrators work in various sectors, including government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private firms that collaborate with the public sector. Their roles involve developing, implementing and managing public policies and programs that address societal needs, from healthcare and education to urban development and environmental sustainability.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public administration careers are expected to grow at a 6% rate through 2032, with some fields like health administration and social and community services growing faster than others. If you are passionate about leadership, problem-solving and public service, this fast-growing career field may be the right fit for you.
UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) offers a Public Administration graduate certificate that is an affordable, short-term alternative to a traditional graduate degree. The certificate is designed to support various career stages and interests. It can be useful early in your career to build knowledge and expand your resume. Many students also come into our program in the middle of their career as they look to step into new positions, gain problem-solving tools, or pivot from the private to public sector. Public Administration certificate program coordinator, Sara McClellan says “I love working with midcareer and aspiring public administrators to strengthen their practice and explore long-term career possibilities. I’m deeply committed to ensuring we have outstanding public servants solving public problems and providing services at all levels of government.”
“I enrolled in the UVA School of Continuing and Professional Studies in the fall of 2019, after completing graduate courses at another university. The available courses satisfied my academic curiosity, and the flexibility was attractive to my incredibly busy schedule. I was so impressed with the overall experience, I registered for other classes after completing the public administration certificate.” - Bladen Finch, Public Administration certificate completer
What will I learn?
The Public Administration graduate certificate equips you with the skills to strengthen your organization and your community by improving public services and engaging in collaborative problem solving. For many students, this program is the first opportunity to truly think of yourself as a public administrator. You may be operating in a federal, military, non-profit or local government framework, but lack the management training or education to feel confident in your role.
The coursework gives you a solid foundation in public administration, by helping you better understand your sense of authority, showing you how to minimize liability and risk and exposing you to public administration strategies. Students gain a broad range of skills to support their work—from policy analysis practices and budget strategies to new design thinking processes that expand employee and public engagement. In addition, you will strengthen your writing, proposal development, policy analysis, budgeting, planning and management skills.
The Public Administration certificate program prioritizes the connection between theory and practice through case analysis and applied projects. Students often choose to pursue projects that represent real-world experiences that can help them in their organizations right away. For example, one student recently chose to redesign the tip line process for a local law enforcement agency to make information sharing more inviting for the community.
“Over the last year, my courses have encouraged me to reach and connect/network with important members of my community. I have been in contact with City Council Members, a State Representative and was recently appointed to my city's Community Development Advisory Board.” - Matthew Unger, Public Administration certificate student
Why is a public administration certificate relevant today?
As a country, we have many public issues to solve together. Public administrators are facing social, technological and economic changes that require new skills and new networks to solve. SCPS aims to model and share information, insights and tools that will benefit students now while also offering them access to a peer network and learning practices and perspectives that will last them a lifetime.
The public administration job outlook continues to improve. A wave of baby boomers retiring and the bounce back from the pandemic is creating a surge in government and public sector jobs. Local, state and federal governments are all hiring at an increased rate - over the last 12 months, the government sector has seen its highest year-over-year job growth since 1990, adding 518,000 jobs, second only to the healthcare industry.
In light of this job growth, political leaders across parties are currently calling for public agencies to reduce barriers to public service careers—for example, minimizing degree requirements. Many public administration and public policy roles will still require an undergraduate degree but some people pursuing analyst and frontline supervisor roles may find that a graduate certificate is now a viable pathway to positions that may have previously required a graduate degree.
How will this certificate help me excel?
The Public Administration graduate certificate provides a grounding in our system of government that is crucial for public administrators or for private or nonprofit sector contractors doing public work. Students are able to ask better questions, identify opportunities and risks more quickly and leverage peer relationships to trouble-shoot challenges. Additionally, earning this certificate signals a commitment to professional development and offers access to UVA’s expansive network.
The students in UVA’s public administration certificate program come from an enormous range of professions, making it truly interdisciplinary. Our professors facilitate challenging conversations in a constructive way, allowing you to benefit and learn from the diversity of students with backgrounds in military, fire service, law enforcement, public health, non-profit, social work, and more. You will gain new perspective and build a multi-faceted professional network that you can rely on throughout your career.
“Thanks to the Certificate in Public Administration program, I feel more confident pursuing positions of more responsibility knowing that I can meet the challenge.” - Joceline Nahigian, Public Administration certificate completer
What types of roles are available when I complete this certificate?
Students who have completed UVA’s Public Administration certificate are in public health positions, public safety leadership roles, supervising road crew teams and serving as capital staffers—this diversity is what makes our program so powerful. Even though students work in a wide range of professions and roles, they all work within the same constitutional framework and navigate our system of federalism to solve public problems.
What makes the UVA Public Administration certificate stand out?
SCPS provides higher education that is accessible, affordable and achievable. The Public Administration certificate typically takes 12-18 months to complete, requiring significantly less time and financial investment than graduate degree programs. SCPS believes in giving students the choice and flexibility to pursue many different pathways. Students who are unsure of their path may begin with the Public Administration certificate as an initial building block, and may later pursue a graduate degree. Courses articulate with the Old Dominion University online Master of Public Administration program so that students have the opportunity to continue their learning journey when they’re ready. Students in the area of Public Safety can also apply to use these courses in the SCPS Master of Public Safety Program.
“What makes UVA’s Public Administration Graduate Certificate program stand out is the fact that it is mission-driven. We take pride in helping to prepare the next generation of public servants and our goal is to have students walk away making better connections between research and practice and armed with new skills and tools to apply as they work to improve public services and solve public problems.” - Sara McClellan, Assistant Professor of Professional Studies & Program Coordinator, Public Administration Certificate Program
Ready to get started? Explore more details about UVA’s Graduate Public Administration Certificate.