About the GPA Certificate Program

The Global Public Affairs (“GPA”) certificate program is an interdepartmental academic initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs that provides intellectual preparation to future experts who plan to work within the realm of global public affairs. Certificates are awarded in addition to the graduate degree earned at Luskin.

The GPA certificate program is not an independent, degree-granting program. GPA certificates are awarded by the Office of the Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

There are four cluster areas to choose from:

• • • • Global Environment & Resources

• • • • Global Health & Social Services

• • • • Global Processes & Institution

• • • • Global Urbanization & Regional Development

Each cluster has at least one Faculty Cluster Leader (FCL). FCLs organize cluster courses and secure agreement from participating faculty to include their course in the cluster. Courses are included in each cluster at the discretion of each cluster’s FCLs.

Eligibility
The GPA certificate program is open to all graduate students enrolled in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Students must be enrolled in a MURP, MPP, MSW, or PhD program at Luskin in order to obtain the GPA certificate. Other UCLA students (undergraduate and graduate) and students from other universities are not eligible to participate at this time.

If not enrolled at Luskin, the interested person must first apply to one of the aforementioned graduate programs. Please refer to official policies for admission to Luskin.

Registering
Once enrolled as a Luskin grad student, the first step to obtaining a GPA Certificate is submitting a brief registration form to declare the desired area of study and intent to complete the certificate.

A student may pursue more than one certificate, but should complete at least 3 courses in each cluster. Certificate courses are drawn from the Luskin School of Public Affairs and from other units across the UCLA campus.

*The deadline to register for graduating students is Friday, December 7, 2018. 

Completing the Certificate
To earn a GPA certificate, Luskin students must complete the following criteria:

• • • • Declare their intention to pursue one or more GPA certificate(s) by Week 10 of Fall Quarter of their second year;

• • • • Successfully complete three courses (per certificate) in a teaching cluster as defined on the GPA website. While a course may be listed under two clusters, six different courses are required for students pursuing two certificates;

• • • • Submit a grade report in the spring quarter of each year to the GPA Project Managers and the Associate Director (global@luskin.ucla.edu; scommins@gmail.com) to verify progress towards the declared certificate, copying their Faculty Cluster Leaders (FCLs) and departmental Student Affairs Officer (SAO)

Seeking Approval for Courses Not Listed
A student may seek approval for a graduate-level course outside of the selection offered on the GPA website to be included in a cluster by meeting the following conditions:

• • • • The student contacts the FCL prior to enrolling in the course to petition for approval;

• • • • The student provides the course syllabus to FCL for review and approval;

• • • • The FCL provides written approval or denial to the student, copying the GPA Director & Associate Director;

• • • • The student requests the PTE # from the course instructor.

*Note: Students are allowed to petition only one non-listed course. Other courses must be part of the GPA cluster curriculum.

Counting Capstones Toward the Certificate
Beginning Fall 2015, GPA students may count one quarter of their capstone project as 1 of the 3 GPA courses if the capstone covers a global topic. To be eligible, students must submit an abstract and Client Student Agreement/ Memorandum of Understanding to global@luskin.ucla.edu preferably by the third week of the first quarter that they are enrolled in the project. At the end of the quarter, please submit a status report of the project, and upon completion of the project, submit a copy of the report to Global Public Affairs.

The deadline to register for graduating students is Friday, December 7, 2018

^{Photo Credit: Rodney Topor}