Info for Students
Fall 2024 Capstone Workshop Application is Now Available!
Who Should Apply: Fall Capstone Workshops are intended for students graduating at the end of the fall semester who have not fulfilled their Capstone Workshop requirement. Priority will be given to graduating fall students, however, any interested student may apply.
*Please note, if you are a first-year student and you take Capstone Workshop this fall, you have satisfied your Capstone requirement. Any student that completes a Capstone Workshop before the final semester is eligible to apply for a future Capstone Workshop but will be applying to the workshop as an elective and therefore will only be placed if space permits.
To apply, students must submit an application, available here. When submitting an application, students must:
(1) Submit a PDF resume saved as one’s UNI (not as your name, please use your UNI)
(2) Complete all of the required fields on the online application, including the release form. On the online application, students must rank order their Capstone preferences from 1 - 2 (1 being the first choice) and submit a 250-word “statement of interest” for each Capstone. In addition, students must list their relevant coursework, writing the full name of the course (rather than writing the SIPA course number or an abbreviation of the course). Relevant coursework may include courses taken outside of Columbia University but please indicate where and when the course was completed.
For more information, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page for students.
Capstone Workshop Fall 2024
|
Capstone Client |
Project Title |
Faculty Advisor |
|---|---|---|
|
Jurisdictional Scan of Energy Project Management Services Provided by Governments |
||
|
Aligning Private Incentives along the Investment Chain with Long-term Sustainable Development |
Information for Capstone Students, MIA, MPA, AND MPA-DP
A core requirement for the Master of International Affairs (MIA), Master of Public Administration (MPA), and Master of Public Affairs in Development Practice (MPA-DP), the Capstone Workshops give students an opportunity to put learning into practice. Serving as a culminating educational experience for the Master of International Affairs and Master of Public Administration degree programs, students in all of the concentrations, except for the Economic and Political Development (EPD) concentration, complete a Capstone Workshop in their final semester. Students are organized into small consulting teams (between 4 to 8 students per team) and assigned a substantive, policy-oriented project with an external client. Clients include public agencies (from the local to national level), international NGOs and multinational organizations, and major firms in the private sector—recent examples include Barclays, Citi Global Wealth Management, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mercy Corps, New York City Mayor’s Office, United Nations University Centre for Policy, and the World Bank Group. Student teams, working under the supervision of a faculty expert, answer a carefully defined problem posed by the client. Each team produces an actionable report and an oral briefing of their findings at the close of the Capstone that is designed to translate into real change on the ground.
SIPA Capstone Workshops are available to MIA, MPA and MPA-DP students.
For more information, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page for students.
Capstone Workshops Requirements by Program
The following degree programs include capstone workshops as part of their curriculum. See the degree program pages for more details.
Master of International Affairs (MIA) »
Master of Public Affairs (MPA) »
Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science Policy (MPA-ESP) »
