Welcome to the School of Government

The School of Government was established by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in 1993 as part of a broad initiative to meet the education and training challenges of a post-apartheid society and as a means of supporting the process of social, political and economic transformation in South Africa and the Southern African region as a whole.

Through its experienced and cosmopolitan staff, the School provides professional and academic training of personnel for the public sector at national, provincial and local levels, as well as for NGOs, trade unions and other related organisations. It also engages in research, consultancy and policy advice, and has contributed to a number of White Papers and other key policy documents at the national, provincial and local government levels.

Through its core staff and constituent units, and its links with African and international tertiary institutions, the School offers a range of inter-disciplinary courses at the certificate, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, to both full-time and part-time students, in areas such as governance and public management, public policy, development studies, citizenship and democracy, and land and agrarian studies. These include:

• Higher Certificate in Economic Development (Delivered by Fair Share)
• B.Admin and B.Admin (Honours) Degrees in Public Administration
• Masters in Public Administration (MPA)
• Master of Administration (M.Admin) by full-thesis
• Postgraduate Diploma and M.Phil in Land and Agrarian Studies
  (Delivered by the Programme for Land and Agriarian Studies ' PLAAS)
• Honours and Masters in Development Studies (Delivered by the Institute for Social Development ).
• Doctoral degrees in these various disciplines.

In all these programmes the School places a major emphasis on educational redress, the recognition of prior experiential learning, and the promotion of life-long learning.

Whilst catering for both full-time and part-time students, many of the School's programmes (and in particular the B.Admin Honours and the MPA) have been designed specifically to meet the needs of those who wish to enhance their qualifications and further their careers by completing a top degree in public policy and management whilst still working. Students are able to incrementally build their postgraduate qualifications, through a combination of intensive two-week teaching blocks (held in February, April, July and September) and distance learning.