Master of Science in Administration

A Master of Science degree in administration (abbreviated M.Sc.A., or MScA) is a type of Master of Science degree awarded by universities in many countries. It is a relatively new field of study that came into existences in the mid-to-late 1970s. The MSA provides broad preparation for a variety of administrative positions in a wide range of organizations. The core focus of the MSA program is about developing people-management skills and is designed to develop leaders and managers who serve in the private or public sector and understand the impact of global transformations that affect our daily lives. Dedicated to professional leadership development, the MSA degree strives to empower graduate students to cultivate their unique potential and talents as well as to promote mastery of the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes necessary for effective leadership. This balance enables graduates to make a difference by creating new opportunities and providing workable solutions to current and future 21st-century dilemmas.

The MSA program is an amalgam of the master of public administration (MPA) and master of business administration (MBA). The MSA pulls courses from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, economics, political science, statistics, leadership, computer science, and business administration to include technology and resource management. This degree is a unique alternative to other graduate-school options that require the GRE or GMAT as a prerequisite for program admission. In fact, the MSA in many ways parallels the more popular MPA and MBA. The MSA pulls from the MPA focuses on organizational behavior, microeconomics, public finance, research methods/statistics, policy process and policy analysis, ethics, public management, leadership, planning and GIS, and program evaluation/performance measurement and the MBA focus on economics, organizational behavior, marketing, accounting, finance, strategy, operations management, international business, information technology management, supply chain management, project management, government policy, and ethics.

Universities that currently offer this degree include