It’s the end of the first academic year for the Blavatnik School of Government and our students have dispersed to all corners of the world to embark on placements for their Summer Projects. The Summer Project is the final part of the course for the Masters in Public Policy. It provides an opportunity for our students to apply the knowledge and skills they have learnt on the course to address distinct policy questions in business, international organisations, governments or elsewhere.
The wide range of interests of Blavatnik School students can be seen in the variety of host organisations and different types of policy questions to be addressed. Amongst many other destinations, students are travelling to Rwanda, Chile, South Africa and Malaysia, and working for organisations as diverse as the IFC (part of the World Bank Group), the BBC, Facebook, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President of Sierra Leone, Oxfam, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey. Some students are pursuing projects in the UK, including at the Cabinet Office, the Royal Society and in the Public Policy and Government Affairs Department at Barclays. Policy areas being studied range from analysis of affirmative action policies in the US, Brazil and India to implementing the Natural Resource Charter to studying the influence of scientific advice in policymaking.
One student, who has already started his summer project at the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, told us how, on the first day of his placement, he met with investors, advised on the structure of a transaction, and started drafting a project proposal for the Bank. He added, “This is exactly what I want to be doing with my life – private sector finance with a public/social sector bent… This is such an amazing opportunity I have to work here.” We are looking forward to hearing from more of our students about their summer projects over the coming weeks.
More about the Summer Project
The Summer Project is an important part of the MPP course. It takes the form of a 6-8 week work placement with an organisation engaged in some aspect of policy work, such as a government department, a policy unit of a private sector organization, a not-for profit organisation or an academic research entity.
Students are tasked with producing a final report based on their experiences addressing a real-world policy question. The assessment of the report forms a part of the overall MPP grade. The Blavatnik School helps students prepare and plan for their summer placements right from their arrival in Oxford. Students are assisted in finding appropriate host organisations for their own interests and guided in their choice of report topics.
