The Master in Public Management major in Health Systems and Development (MPM-HSD) is a 39-unit interdisciplinary graduate program for health sector practitioners and professionals. It incorporates the Academy’s distinctive features of combining both theoretical and practical cum functional competencies, as well as building stewardship values.

Program graduates are envisioned to be health systems reform implementers and rural health development managers who will serve as change catalysts in their respective areas.

MPM-HSD uses and includes adult and experiential-based learning, interactive sessions with experts and practitioners, field exposures, and an action-oriented thesis scheme that combines scientific research with program development and implementation. Its major learning areas involve strengthening scientific and technical knowledge and skills on one hand and developing personal and managerial efficacy on the other hand. MPM-HSD covers research, planning and implementation of programs on health sector reform and other related activities. Students are honed on scientific as well as managerial approaches and tools for pursuing reforms, innovations, and proposing strategic solutions to problems and concerns in the health sector.

MPM-HSD aims to provide a holistic development package for health sector practitioners. Students of the Program will be able to observe, learn or share from best practices and have a chance to apply the optimum skills that will enable them to:

1. Examine health and development issues and concerns that confront health professionals in the public sector at the national and local /Municipal Level;

2. Holistically understand the causes and factors that bear on health and development issues and concerns;

3. Select and apply appropriate leadership and management strategies in designing, planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating health policies, programs, projects, and interventions at the Municipal/Local Level, and

4. Live out the principles of effective and efficient health governance, such as transparency and accountability, integrity, and public service values.

The MPM-HSD program is designed to be taken in a ‘ladderized mode’ in which the students earn credit units after the completion of a set of courses.

PMC-201 Public Management: Theories, Principles and Innovations

PMC-202 Philippine Administrative System and Governance

PMC-203 Public Policy Analysis

PMC-204 Personal Efficacy and Leadership

PMC 205: APP 1 (Research Methods in Public Management 1)

PHS-211 Public Health Sector Human Resource Management and Development

PHS-212 Public Health Sector Finance and Budgeting

PHS-213 Health Economics and Sustainable Human Development

PHS-214 Health Program Administration and Quality Management

PHS-215 Strategic E-governance in the Public Health Sector

PHS-216 Strategic Health Communication Governance

PHS-217 Social Determinants of Health

PM 300: APP 2 (Research Methods in Public Management 2)

The APP is the final academic requirement of DAP’s graduate programs. The APP is both an action research and a scholarly report that aims to respond to or resolve a public management problem in the student’s organization in a manner acceptable to both communities of practitioners and scholars. Students are expected to demonstrate competencies acquired from the program, such as their ability to manage people, resources, time and performance through the findings or results of their research.

To ensure the quality and academic rigor of the APP, the student has to face a panel of experts three times during the topic-to-title defense, proposal defense, and final defense. The panel evaluates the performance of the student during the oral presentation, the quality of the write-up, the characteristics of the APP as being pro-poor, developmental and high- impact, and the level of innovativeness of the APP.

Students are given 9 months to finish their APP, where field validations will be conducted in between .

The program will employ adult learning methodology and apply adult learning principles. This means a combination of faculty and resource person inputs, demonstrations, case discussions, readings, workshops, individual and syndicated assignments including the experience of the Action Plan and Project. These aim to engage the participant in an active-reflective learning mode to elicit insights that will trigger the change of mind set from doing the usual to thinking “out-of-the box” in the exploration of better reforms to develop. 

The Program will run for three years, with eight Continuing Education (CE) runs. Reading materials, exercises and other requirements will be sent via the Internet if and when the faculty and resource persons deem applicable. Classes are to be held in DAP Tagaytay or another venue as may be agreed upon by DAP and the client(s).

Faculty and/or Resource Persons of the Program will come from DAP’s renowned pool of experts and alumni, as well as practitioners from public and private organizations.