Is getting a MPA/MPP degree in Europe useless for work in the US?

November 24, 2014 4:49 PM

I'm considering pursuing a degree to further my career in child welfare, educational and cultural non-profits. As I'd love to spend time living abroad and I wouldn't get into a especially impressive school here in the US, I'm wondering if it would be useless to get my degree from a university in Europe (most likely in the UK). If it is worth doing, what schools should I be looking at? Would I be eligible for any sort of financial aid?
posted by youcancallmeal to Education (5 answers total)

If you're interested in domestic social policy and/or nonprofit management, then going to school in the US is likely a better proposition for you. Really, what you're going for is the network, and you won't get that if you go to school in Europe. The academics won't necessarily translate either, since the social welfare system is so different here than in the US. I got my MPP from an American school that was half international students, and my social policy classes were almost all American for this reason. It might be different if you were interested in international policy, but both the things you're interested in are pretty country-specific.

I'm not sure why you think you wouldn't get into "equally impressive" schools, but it can't hurt to try. You can always spend a summer interning abroad, and if you do go to a top school, there will be opportunities to do fellowship-type-programs in other countries afterwards.
posted by lunasol at 6:06 PM on November 24, 2014

Oh, and for the financial side of things, if you are bent on Europe, Norway offers free education to international students in some fields.
posted by lunasol at 6:08 PM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Germany recently made all universities free and many programs are in English. Here are more:



7 Countries Where Americans Can Study at Universities in English for Free
posted by bearette at 6:25 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Unless you can get into a much better quality school in Europe than you can in the US, this doesn't make much sense. As lunasol said, you won't get the networks that are half the point of policy school, and the legal/policy/government context will be very different.

Also, how will you support yourself, even if there are no tuition fees? You may not have the right to work, and it will be difficult to find a job in any case. The employment situation is still horrendous in much of Europe. And you won't be eligible for US government loans for overseas study, to the best of my knowledge (although you should check this).

That said, the biggest 'names' for policy schools in the UK are probably LSE, and the Blavatnik School at Oxford. In Europe, Sciences Po in Paris and the Hertie School in Berlin would be worth a look. I'm sure there are others out there too, but you need to keep name recognition in mind. If you've never heard of a school, will a future employer in the US have?

Sorry to rain on your parade. Where I'm coming from with this: I'm doing a similar degree in the US; I'm not from here, and don't intend to stay here long-term. I knew that in choosing to go overseas for my Masters I was explicitly giving up opportunities to build a local network, and would have to 'translate' a lot of what I learned into my home country's system of government and social context. I did it anyway because (1) the quality of the education at the school I'm at is light years ahead of anything at home (2) the school I'm at has sufficient name recognition at home to be useful (3) I got sufficient funding from the school that I don't have to work while I'm studying and (4) I wanted to live in the US for a while. I'd be surprised if you could replicate any of 1-3 in your situation, and (4) is not enough, in my opinion, to justify the cost.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 10:10 PM on November 24, 2014

Best answer: Anecdotal experience only (I am not familiar with your particular field at all): I live in Washington, DC where having an advanced degree seems to be a requirement even for many entry-level policy jobs. Again, only my anecdotal experience, but it seems pretty popular in DC for folks to go abroad for their advanced degrees because it is sooooooooo much cheaper to get a Master's in Europe for the most part.

Seems like most jobs don't care too much where you got the degree either, unless it's from a top-ranked school. I haven't noticed any particular difference in how fast people landed jobs out of school between the folks who are local and the folks who went abroad.
posted by forkisbetter at 4:30 PM on November 25, 2014