Escalating tension between Russia and the West, a new political order in China, and election results which confirm the collapse of established political parties all around the world – these are just some of the challenges which have emerged in the past year. Our mission of improving public policy and government is more pressing than ever and the new annual report published today offers a summary of the School’s activities of research, teaching, and engagement for a world better governed.

Some of the highlights include:

• we launched a global commission on technology and inclusive development (Pathways for Prosperity) and led another global commission’s work to generate its recommendations (Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development);
• an 82% growth in research income (£3.73m in 2017/18) means we have 18 new research grants and double the number of researchers at the School; this includes Professor Pepper Culpepper’s €2.5 million European Research Council grant for a groundbreaking project on public attitudes to banks and mass media;
• we received over 4,000 applications to the MPP to date, with record 793 applications for 2018 entry; £1.32m in donations for scholarships (a 40% growth) will provide financial assistance to some of these students;
• we held nearly 100 talks and discussions open to the public, which led to over 174,000 views of events recordings and videos;
• we welcomed 194 short course participants from all the regions of the world (a 40% increase since last year), as well as a total of 65,600 online learners globally enrolled in the MOOC.

We continued to strengthen our engagement with governments and policymakers, focusing in particular on the UK, China and Brazil this year. We have also introduced the case method in MPP teaching developing bespoke case studies, and we have celebrated some of our alumni’s achievements.

Read the Blavatnik School of Government 2018 Annual Report in full.