How would you round off a year of intensive study and instruction in understanding and addressing public policy challenges? For our students the answer is with a summer project that gives an exciting opportunity to apply their newly learned skills to a real world policy challenge.

Students have now reached the end of the formal taught component of the Master of Public Policy, and over the next few days will begin their summer projects, as the final part of the course.

For many, this is the most exciting element of the course. The project gives students a chance to apply their skills and insights from the classroom to an environment where they can deepen or diversify their experience of work in a particular sector. The project takes the form of a 6-8 week placement with an institution or organization engaged in some aspect of policy work, such as a government department, a not-for-profit organization, a policy think tank, a policy unit of a private sector institution, or an academic research centre engaged in policy work.

Some students will take the opportunity to test out a new kind of policy environment that they have not experienced before. Others will choose to deepen their knowledge in a field they are already committed to. Wherever they choose to go and whatever issue they choose to investigate, students will have to write and submit a piece of work that analyses a specific policy question they have explored during their placement.

Among the many different kinds of summer project is the Open Society Internship for Rights and Governance (OSIRG), a programme with which the Blavatnik School has partnered to involve students who are committed to advancing local and global forms of human rights and justice. Five Blavatnik School students will participate in the programme this summer. The internship begins with a week-long immersion, through a clinical seminar, in the ideas and practice of open society. Following the seminar, interns will work for 6-8 weeks in one of OSIRG’s host institutions, which include many of the strongest and most ambitious transnational non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International, Global Witness and Human Rights Watch, as well as innovative, local organizations such as e-Governance Academy in Estonia and Justice Base in Burma.

Out of the 62 students this year, 26 will spend all or some of their time in the UK for their projects. Others are going to a diverse array of countries, including China, Turkey, Sierra Leone and Qatar among many others. Explore our infographic of where students are going.

Some of our students’ comments about the summer project:

• Tatianna Silva is a Brazilian MPP student who will do her summer placement at the Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) in Banbury, UK. She will compare waste disposal approaches in Brazil and the UK to see if she can discover what makes successful sustainable policy solutions. “Working with WRAP provides an amazing opportunity for me to start delving into the topic of my PhD research and learn the practicalities surrounding waste management,” explains Tatianna. “My research aims to understand the barriers hindering the implementation of the National Waste Policy in Brazil and hopefully to propose policy alternatives that will help the country reduce and recycle waste while improving the livelihood of waste pickers.”
• Henry Mphwanthe, from Malawi, will be going to the Ministry of Finance in Chile for his summer project. He says, “For me the summer project presented an opportunity to get outside my comfort zone and experience something new. I was looking for an opportunity that would add value to my time at the School, beyond the lecture room and outside of Oxford. I am particularly excited to work on an exciting project that will analyse policies that will help to improve Chile competitiveness on the global market.”

Over the next few weeks, we plan to post photos and blogs from students about their summer project experiences. So stay tuned for more insights!