Bangladesh is an emerging economy where public policy has to be broadened up and it has to be everybody's business. It is not only about policy making but also how citizens engage with that policy making, how policies are actually being implemented on the ground and how it impacts people- these are all central to good policy making that can help governance work for development.

The Master of Arts in Governance and Development (MAGD) program, offered by BIGD at Brac University is a nationally and internationally acclaimed program that has been meticulously designed for government and non-profit officials, researchers, development practitioners, and young professionals who want to make public policy work for development.

Since its beginning, the MAGD program has been playing a significant role in nurturing promising policymakers, enabling them to take on multifaceted, complex governance and development challenges with confidence. The MAGD program is very important for BIGD because it is central to BIGD’s mission. BIGD wants to connect governance and development and wants to ensure that governance works for development and the way governance works for development is through public policy so from that point of view this is central to the mission of BIGD and the overall vision of ‘knowledge for a better world.’

To achieve its aim of developing highly effective policymakers and professionals in governance and development, the program offers a wide range of expertise among faculty, cross-learning opportunities with development programs and connecting with a strong alumni network. Access to digital content and an understanding of the role of the latest technologies in public policy analysis will ensure that students are well-equipped to be confident benefactors of the fourth industrial revolution.

The MAGD program requires 36 credits and can be completed within 2 years under an open-credit system. MAGD will offer a unique blend of teaching by globally acclaimed academics and the insights of locally rooted practitioners to build a strong theoretical foundation on governance and development and the capabilities to successfully implement learned theories into practice. The redesigned MAGD will be offered from Fall 2023 as a non-residential blended/hybrid program to offer the necessary flexibility to working students.

MAGD aims to enable policymakers and professionals to successfully address the 21st-century challenges and meaningfully contribute to the sustainable, inclusive development of their country. In order to achieve this, The curriculum has been designed in such a way that will cultivate critical thinking among the students and develop their soft and hard skills to turn them into strategic, agile, efficient, and responsive actors of governance and development. Therefore, MAGD graduates have an additional edge over their peers, giving them an advantage in terms of career progression and job postings.

Visit BIGD website for details