The Department of Public Policy (DPP) at Central European University (CEU) is, in the words of its founder, George Soros, a “new kind of global institution dealing with global problems” through multi-disciplinary study of public policy, innovative teaching and research, as well as meaningful engagement with policy practice.
Public policy today is in a global, multi-level crisis. Tipping the scales towards a more secure peace, social justice, and environmental sustainability – to name but a few – requires innovative and entrepreneurial engagement for the common good.
DPP is a multi-disciplinary graduate institution committed to the values of open society and creating strong and flexible links between research and practice as one way of responding to what is, overall, a failure of policy elites to tackle the most urgent problems of our time.
Policy-making requires awareness of political and socio-economic dynamics specific to different governance contexts, as well as a fairer and better representation of diverging perspectives. To that end, DPP is vigorously inclusive, attracting both students and faculty from diverse backgrounds and tapping into a wide variety of knowledge sources. DPP’s students are the future social and political entrepreneurs, equipped to make innovative contributions towards resolving the paramount public policy challenges of the 21st century.
The department offers four master's degrees in public policy and the public policy track of the Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science program. The degree programs are tailored for students from around the world seeking careers in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors at the local, national, European Union and international levels. The department boasts a team of outstanding resident faculty, world-class visiting faculty made up of top researchers, and practitioners in the public policy field who bring a wide array of academic and practical subjects to DPP's diverse classroom.
The Department of Public Policy was founded in 2006 and expands on a long-standing commitment to public policy education and research. It draws on the heritage of the CEU’s Center for Policy Studies (CPS), the policy research unit, which led the efforts to launch the university’s first public policy MA degree program in 2004, as well as the School of Public Policy, which was founded in 2012. The School and the Department merged in 2014 and continued as School until 2021, when the School was renamed back to Department.