The FDRE Capacity Building Strategies document (2001) noted that knowledge and skills in public policy is limited in many of the public institutions in Ethiopia. As a result, many experts and some public managers included, fail to associate many of their sectoral activities with national policies cascaded from the latter. Absence of the study area in many of the higher learning institutions, until very recently, and lack of research think-tanks on the subject also  contribute to the low conceptual knowledge and experience in the area. It was with this dire need and emphasis stipulated in the aforesaid document that the Ethiopian Civil Service University played a pioneering role to launch the program at a Master’s level in 2011/12 Academic Year

Moreover, in light of the series of public policies and strategies formulated and continue to be formulated to ensure the country’s desire to reach a middle-income country, policies designed at federal and state levels have to be understood, advocated and implemented successfully. Policy actors at all levels need to be versed with the basics of public policy science in order that policy implementation would help ensure in achieving set goals and objectives. Hence, the overall objective of this program is to enhance students’ policy knowledge, skills, policy partnership and ownership attitudes in order that effective policy outcomes and impacts can be realized in a federal setup.

Public policy is a relatively recent science which is primarily interested in finding out what governments decide, why, when and to what end they decide.  It also helps to study the power relationships among the various policy actors in the policy processes: problem identification; agenda setting, policy formulation, policy legitimation, policy implementation and evaluation. All of these require informed policy conceptualization and skills at all levels to successfully implement them. This program is expected to serve the purpose. Today, the Center for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) is in a moment of graduating the second batch of students in Master’s degree and has finalized preliminary preparations to launch an Executive master’s studies in Public Policy Management for persons in the executive position.