Public Administration: An Academic Programmes Approach

Abstract

A genesis of the academic programmes in the field of public administration, tendencies of their development in different countries (including
Lithuania) and peculiarities of content are discussed in the article. It is shown that in different periods of development of public administration as an
academic discipline tasks and objectives were changing, however permanently the fundamental concerns were effectiveness in achieving the goals of
government and constitutional support (political effectiveness) and competence in the performance of all public enterprises (managerial effectiveness). It
is why academic programmes in the field of public administration were developed taking into account political, legal, managerial and occupational
perspectives. Modern academic programmes of this field are interdisciplinary. By analysing programmes of different universities, it was found that they
differ from each other in their structure and courses content, in particularly varies their focus (management, political and legal). It is shown that
contemporary challenges for public administration (ideas of the new public administration and new public management) are giving new tasks for public
administration academic programmes and therefore the focus of the programmes is changing more and more often emphasising significance of
management subjects.