The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) have partnered to introduce a dynamic, flexible, and innovative master’s programme: The Commonwealth Executive Master of Public Administration (CEMPA). The COL’s approach to learning includes learning at one’s own pace, place and time, self-instructional learning materials, face-to-face and online/face-to-face tutor support. Most importantly, the learning is cost-efficient and cost-effective.
The CEMPA Programme is designed for busy working professionals in response to the growing demands for post-graduate level education in public administration. This executive MPA will help managers and corporate executives gain a higher level of competency and develop an international perspective of public administration. The Programme is flexible and modular and uses a learner-centred system so students can continue to work while accessing higher education. The Programme provides comprehensive and in-depth coverage of challenging issues through core, elective, and project courses in Public Administration.
What qualifications do you need?
Welcome to all potential Graduate School Students. Please see a list of requirements for the programme below. Don’t worry if your qualifications are not listed here, we take a range of factors into account when assessing your application and are happy to consider other alternative combinations of qualifications and experience.
The CEMPA Programme is equivalent to two (2) years of full-time study (i.e., four (4) semesters or approximately 1,800 hours). Student hours include such learning activities as working through student material, preparing assignments, tutored activities and preparing for examinations. The CEMPA Programme is based on a credit accumulation system. All courses have a weighting of six (6) credits = 120 study hours. The programme is designed so that it may be completed in four (4) semesters, but students have a maximum of five years to complete the degree.
This course is designed to enhance your knowledge of and competencies in various aspects of the development and applications of enterprise information systems (EIS) and digital strategy. The module aims at providing learners with knowledge on the role played by information systems in business process re-engineering – i.e., redesigning an organisation’s business processes using information technology to make it more efficient and effective. Learners will detect issues relating to information systems in the functional areas of organisations. They will identify the driving forces behind the growth of e-business and the challenges faced by businesses in using e-business technologies effectively. Finally, they will look at the importance of database technology for Web-based commerce in supporting decision-making.
The Management in Organisations course is organised into 13 units addressing topics of management and organisational behaviour (OB). The course begins with the basic concepts of management and OB. The course further explores how elements of the external and internal organisational environment affect the functioning of an organisation. Under organisational environment, different organisational structures are examined from an external and strategic viewpoint. Power and politics affecting internal organisational dynamics in respect of productivity and satisfaction will also be explored. Subsequently, conflict resolution techniques and negotiation techniques in the organisational context will be explored. The first five units cover the general concepts of management practices. OB fundamental concepts, practices, theories will be explored from sixth unit. Fundamental concepts, practices, and theories of OB will be explored from Unit 6. Further, OB application to motivate and manage at all levels will be explored by using individual, group, and organisational level analysis.
This module serves to introduce you to the fundamentals of the field of People and Talent Management and prepare you for a professional career in a range of human resource (HR) positions in diverse disciplines, such as HR planning (HRP), recruitment, learning and development, and talent and performance management by developing analytical and evaluation skills that can be applied effectively to international real-world situations in an innovative manner. This module also aims to equip you with insight into how to go about developing a comprehensive wellness strategy to appropriately promote and establish workplace safety, occupational health and hygiene and employee well-being. It will provide you with knowledge about global contemporary issues related to human resource management (HRM) and managing human resources in national and international contexts. On successful completion of this module, you will be able to demonstrate detailed knowledge about and insight into the challenges, processes and practices involved in using information, technology and metrics to improve people management in organisations.
Economics is the study of how individuals and societies choose to use scarce resources. It is a behavioural science of how people make choices. This course is organised into five modules addressing topics of economic issues faced in business environment. The course begins with an overview on the economic environment and the market mechanism. The modules that follow explore production theory, cost theory, market structure, aggregate demand and supply, and government macroeconomic policy. In module five, economy in an open environment will be covered.
This course is about public systems management and the paradigm of public administration. The course will explore the nature of public administration and how a nation could use government organisations effectively to provide goods and services to its citizens. The course examines what constitutes good government. It contends that good government administration must rest on three very important variables: 1. Competency 2. Honesty 3. Democracy The course explores a combination of theory and practice. One of the purposes of this course is to promote a superior understanding of government and its relationship with the society it governs. The course also aims to encourage public policies more responsive to social needs and to institute managerial practices that are attuned to efficiency, effectiveness and the deeper human requisites of the citizens.
This course aims at inculcating a data-driven culture among learners for application in the business decision-making process. The use of data analytics is indeed becoming a critical tool for making decisions in the workplace. This course will provide the mathematical and statistical foundations and equip the learners with analytical skills with the aim of understanding, formulating, and solving business problems.
In this course, we shall introduce you to the components of marketing management, such as the definition of marketing, the marketing environment, market segmentation, targeting and positioning, product, price, distribution, and promotion decisions. You will also learn about international marketing, internet-based media marketing, AI applications in marketing decisions, and strategic marketing. The course will equip you with the fundamentals necessary for the pursuit of more advanced courses in marketing. What is particularly appealing is that it is very practical. Concepts are well supported by numerous examples.
The course is designed as an overview of financial accounting principles and processes, to provide an understanding of how financial transactions are captured, measured, and compiled into financial reporting statements. You will be introduced also to techniques commonly used to analyse and interpret the financial statements of an entity. Opportunities will be given throughout the course for you to select, calculate and manipulate transactional data, produce financial statements, and conduct analysis. The ultimate object is for the student to be able to assess the financial performance and position of an entity from which to make informed executive management decisions.
Public policy is a specialised field, but one that draws on many disciplines of study. In the study of public policy, we are interested in the decisions that governments make for the nation or state they manage, but we go far beyond just considering those decisions. We are concerned with who makes them, how they are made, the quality of the decisions, and how they are carried out in practice. In this course you will need to explore your understanding of public policy and how it is defined. You will need to understand that policy emerges from different contexts, and those different institutions, groups and individuals influence policymaking. Policy can be conceptualised as a cyclical process. This cyclical model will be used throughout this course, although criticisms and other models will also be presented. You will begin to consider some of the contemporary issues that affect policy and examine some case studies that demonstrate these features of policymaking.
The course explains the meaning, nature, scope and significance of development administration; models of development administration; political, economic and socio-cultural contexts of development administration and development administration in developed and developing countries.
This course is designed to give you a contemporary worldview of electronic commerce (e-commerce) usage and its application to business. During the course you will explore the development and application of e-commerce to the business context, including consideration the infrastructure frameworks required to implement e-commerce applications.
This course provides you with a logical and systematic approach to acquiring the conceptual foundation of project management. It introduces you to the fundamental principles, concepts and theories that will help you to understand and analyse the various aspects of project management. This can be a mega project like the construction of an airport or a small project within your own department. In this course, mega projects are mentioned as case studies and are more easily available for your reference.
Managerial economics is the science of directing scarce resources to manage cost effectively. Wherever resources are scarce, a manager can make more effective decisions by applying the discipline of managerial economics. These may be decisions with regard to customers, suppliers, competitors, or the internal workings of the organisation. It does not matter whether the setting is a business, non-profit organisation, or home. In all of these settings, managers must make the best of scarce resources. Throughout this course learners are exposed to the tools of managerial economics in solving business problems using economics. This course emphasises both theories and applications that will help students to understand and analyse various aspects of project management.
The course, Policy Analysis and Implementation, is designed to expose learners to the theories, models and practices in contemporary policy making, analysis and implementation. The course also provides inputs on the role of legislature, the impact of international organisations and programme evaluation.
To successfully manage within the public service, we must first understand basic administrative principles that underpin the organisations we work within, as well as the larger context within which those organisations are situated. It is fashionable to claim that management is management, is management. But the reality is that the job of managing governments has a different purpose than managing in the private sector. The latter concerns itself with the bottom line: maximising profit. The former concerns itself with maximising the common good – which is a far more difficult concept to define. This course seeks to provide a basic understanding of the principles, context, tools and institutions of contemporary administrative systems.
From ancient times to present day, disasters have been a fact of life. No country is exempt from their effects. However, negative impacts can be reduced and lives saved by the application of key disaster management principles and strategies. This course offers a comprehensive and practical overview of these fundamental principles and strategies, from an international perspective, to introduce learners to the discipline and profession of disaster management.
This course provides a fundamental understanding of why it is essential for companies to ensure optimal corporate financial decisions are made, and how optimal strategies that create or protect value and reduce risk for their shareholders can be produced. It contends that sound financial decisions are made in terms of financing decisions and investment decisions. The course will explore the nature of sound financial decision-making strategies and management. The course covers a wide-range of topics such as ratio analysis, leasing, derivatives, risks, mergers and acquisitions, and international financial management. The key approach of this course will be based on a combination of theory and practice in each topic.
International Marketing is a graduate course that introduces the student to the complexities of international or global marketing. It is assumed that students have gained a fundamental understanding of the basic concepts and principles of marketing from a combination of previous marketing courses, workshops and from their own personal professional past experiences. It is further assumed that students are also conversant with the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web for research purposes, as the Internet should be accessed and navigated both during and following the formal module sessions in order to fully reap the benefits of this course.
This course is organised into nine modules covering different areas relevant to business ethics. It starts with an exploration of some key perspectives relevant to ethics at the micro level, namely personal values and ethics, then moves on to looking at ethics from the organisational and the environmental perspectives. The topics covered under different modules include the context for and relevance of business ethics; different theoretical approaches to resolve ethical problems and dilemmas; the various stakeholders and the necessity of balancing their interests; ethics in core business areas such as marketing, production, advertising, human resource management; business ethics and environment and sustainability issues; business ethics and shareholders; and finally, creating and managing an organisation that supports ethical practices. The overall purpose of the course is to make the students aware of the different issues relevant to ethics in business and to equip them with tools which will help them to deal with such issues.
This course has been designed to give you an understanding of the process of business research and its components, such as research design, data collection, sampling, statistical analysis and report writing. It involves a systematic and replicable process that identifies and defines problems within specified boundaries. Students will employ well-designed methods to collect data and analyse the results in order to resolve a business-related problem or achieve an understanding of a particular trend or issue.
Students can take up this capstone research project course only after completing the eight core courses for their respective programme and completing the course on Research Methodology. The student may choose a project supervisor and will work closely with the supervisor for the entire project course. The objective of the research project is to teach the student how to apply multidisciplinary concepts, tools and techniques to solve organizational problems.
