Public Administration, DPA

Description of Program

The Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) program is a 54-credit program, designed for current and potential mid and senior managers to enhance their knowledge and competencies appropriate to a leadership role in public administration. This curriculum offers solid grounding in applied-research with a wide range of public management and policy topics. The degree program is intended to engage students in application of theoretical knowledge to advance the practice of public administration. Students will learn the appropriate literature and research methods for practical application. The curriculum lays the foundation for students to evaluate theories and practice models in the field as well as contribute to the current body of PUB knowledge. 

Learning Outcomes

• Evaluate problems and ethical issues in public organizations
• Formulate domestic and global solutions to public service and policy issues
• Create practical strategies for public organizations from evidence-based research
• Contribute to the applied literature within the field of public administration

Basis for Admissions

Admission to the Doctor of Public Administration program requires a conferred master’s degree and/or doctoral degree from a regionally or nationally accredited academic institution.

Degree Requirements

The University may accept a maximum of 12 semester credit hours in transfer toward the doctoral degree for graduate coursework completed at an accredited college or university with a grade of “B” or better.

The DPA degree programs have the following graduation requirements:

• A minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate instruction must be completed through NCU
• Grade Point Average of 3.0 (letter grade of “B”) or higher
• Satisfactory completion of the DPA Portfolio
• University Approval of Dissertation Manuscript and Oral Defense completed
• Submission of the approved final dissertation manuscript to the University Registrar, including the original unbound dissertation manuscript and an electronic copy
• Official documents on file for basis of admission: a conferred master’s degree from an accredited academic institution
• Official transcripts on file for all transfer credit hours accepted by the University
• All financial obligations to the University paid in full

Dissertation Completion Pathway

The NCU mission is dedicated to assisting students in achieving their academic aspirations and helping them become valuable contributors to their community and profession. To support our mission, NCU now offers a dissertation completion pathway for students who have successfully completed their doctoral coursework and achieved doctoral candidacy at a previous institution but were unable to complete their dissertation.  NCU’s Dissertation Completion Pathway (DCP) offers a unique opportunity for students to complete their doctorate in one of the doctoral programs offered at NCU (excluding the PhD in MFT, DMFT, DNP, and DHA). Students successfully meeting the entrance and application requirements will complete a minimum of 23 credit hours to earn their doctorate.

Click below for more information on the

Dissertation Completion Pathway  

Time to Completion

NCU allows 7 years to complete all doctoral programs of 60 credits or less.

Normal time to completion for this program is 45 months.

Time to completion varies depending upon the pace in which a student completes courses and the number of transfer credits accepted. As most NCU students are working adults, balancing educational, professional, and personal commitments, our academic and finance advisors will work with you to develop a program schedule that works best for your needs.

The normal time disclosed above reflects the experience of students who may have entered under different program requirements. In the quest for continuous improvement, academic leadership has revised the program to optimize curriculum and pace, facilitate student learning, and improve chances for success. Therefore, the program is now designed for students enrolling today to take advantage of these revised course structures, lengths, and schedules.

Dissertation Process

Faculty assists each NCU Doctoral student to reach this high goal through a systematic process leading to a high-quality completed dissertation. This process requires care in choosing a topic, documenting its importance, planning the methodology, and conducting the research. These activities lead smoothly into the writing and oral presentation of the dissertation.

A doctoral candidate must be continuously enrolled throughout the series of dissertation courses. Dissertation courses are automatically scheduled and accepted without a break in scheduling to ensure that students remain in continuous enrollment throughout the dissertation course sequence.  If additional time is required to complete any of the dissertation courses, students must re-enroll and pay the tuition for that course. Continuous enrollment will only be permitted when students demonstrate progress toward completing dissertation requirements. The Dissertation Committee determines progress.

Course Sequence

• PUB-7000 - Public Administration
• PUB-7002 - Administrative Law
• PUB-7020 - Public Management Theory
• PUB-7005 - Public Budgeting and Finance
• PUB-7008 - Principles of Organization and Management
• PUB-7022 - Executive Leadership in Public Administration
• PUB-7021 - Strategic Management in the Public Sector
• PUB-7017 - Public Personnel Administration
• PUB-7019 - Public Policy Administration
• BUS-7100 - Scholarly Literature Review
• BUS-7105 - Statistics I
• BUS-7320 - Quantitative Research Design & Methodology
• BUS-7380 - Qualitative Research Design and Methodology
• CMP-9601PA - Pre-Candidacy Prospectus
• DIS-9901A - Components of the Dissertation
• DIS-9902A - The Dissertation Proposal
• DIS-9903A - Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Data Collection
• DIS-9904A - The Dissertation Manuscript and Defense