Graduation and Accreditation

Standard Eligibility

The John Jay College MPA Program is eligible for peer review and accreditation by COPRA and is applying for such at this time. MPA Program faculty are committed to the use of peer review procedures to assess the educational quality of the Program.

Standard Institutional Accreditation

John Jay College of Criminal Justice is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The date of the College’s most recent accreditation was 1993; the five-year Periodic Review took place in 1998. Accreditation by the Middle States Association included the MPA offcampus program offered by the College at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Standard Professional Education 

A.  Leadership and management objective

The John Jay College MPA Program seeks to prepare students to be effective managers and leaders who are possessed with conceptual insight, factual knowledge, practical skills, and attitudinal readiness for leadership. The Program is, and always has been, dedicated to professional education for management and leadership roles in administration and the faculty has always been recruited to serve this purpose. Most full time faculty members have had practical experience in public service and all maintain contacts with the professional public administration community. The Program also insures that students will have contact with real life experiences by selectively hiring adjunct faculty members who are practicing managers and leaders in their fields.  With John Jay College located in the heart of New York City, there is a large pool of adjuncts from whom to choose.  For example, adjuncts in the MPA Program come from the United Nations, the Office of the New York City Comptroller, the Office of the New York State Comptroller, and the Office of the New York State Inspector General.

The MPA curriculum has been designed according to NASPAA guidelines to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for the effective practice of management in the public sector. The Program provides students with computer and technological skills that are increasingly central to the effective administration of public sector organizations. Core courses provide a basic and thorough approach to public sector organizational dynamics and the policy environment in which managers in the public sector operate. Students are also required to select an area of specialization, in which they will acquire more in-depth skills in a particular functional area—skills that are critical in managerial and leadership positions. Beyond mastery of knowledge and skills, the Program seeks to instill in students the ethical values relevant to leadership and management in public administration.

B.  Degree specification

The John Jay College Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program is the degree program applying for review and accreditation. The review will not encompass the other masters degree programs offered by John Jay College.  Each of these programs is targeted to a special audience and has a special mission which is fundamentally different from that of the MPA Program. They are:

the Master of Arts in Criminal Justice; the Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology; the Master of Science in Forensic Science; and the Master of Science in Protection Management.

Standard Program Length

The Master of Public Administration Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice began its fifty-fourth year of operation in September, 2021. The first John Jay College Master of Public Administration degree students were admitted to the Program in September 1967, and the first John Jay College Master of Public Administration degree was awarded in February 1968 (for a transfer student who had completed a substantial part of his coursework at Baruch College of the City University of New York). Students who pursue the Master of Public Administration degree primarily at the West Point site were first admitted to the Program in September 1984. The first John Jay College Master of Public Administration Degrees for graduates of the West Point Program were awarded in September, 1986.

Most of our students are enrolled part-time. They typically graduate from the program in 4 years. However, students who take more credits each semester and/or summer sessions may often graduate within 2 or 3 years.

As part of our mission to equip future public servants with the knowledge, skills, and leadership experiences to advance public service values, the MPA Program caters to all students. Most of our students are employed full-time with other responsibilities that prevent them from taking full-time classes in the MPA Program. To align with our mission and dedication for students’ socioeconomic upward mobility, we allow our students to graduate from the program at their convenience. Students have graduated from our program within 2, 3, 4, or more years. Below, is a breakdown of our most recent graduation rates for students in the AY 2015-2016 cohort:

8% graduated within 2 years

40% graduated within 3 years

56% graduated within 4 years

67% graduated and persisting to graduation