The course aims to introduce both the basic tools of public management (personnel management, the budget, purchases of goods and services, strategic and operational planning) and knowledge related to the functioning of Public Administrations (PA) and their main characteristics. The set of knowledge and specific skills related to "soft skills" (relational, communicative, teamwork support) is an essential part of building a set of cognitive assets that can, in principle, allow the student to enter. in a more direct and concrete way, within the mission of the public manager. Particular attention will be paid to the need for students to become fully aware of the consequences of digital transformation processes (AI included) on the various areas of PA management. At the end of the course, therefore, students will have acquired a more solid knowledge of the fundamentals of public management, of the main tools available to the manager as well as a more clear awareness of the skills necessary for the effective management of the institutional units of PA. In this vein, constant reference will be made to the implementation of the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza.

On the basis of the so-called "Dublin descriptors", the expected learning outcomes can be declined as follows. A first expected result refers to the construction of the set of technical knowledge and to the ability to understand the administrative and organizational context in which the various activities related to public management are set upon. The evaluation of these skills is relatively simple, but at the same time essential for the development of activities capable of ensuring the approach or, hopefully, the full achievement of more ambitious results. A second, possible outcome focuses on increasing students' ability and familiarity with the use of knowledge and skills acquired in administrative areas within which full awareness of how much the different aspects of managing a public institution are united and deeply intertwined. This awareness constitutes the main pillar around which to build an autonomous problem-solving capacity. A third learning result to be pursued focuses on the development of attitudes / behaviors by students (thanks to the acquisition of a good technical and cultural background related to public management) which can facilitate the definition of judgments, assessments, points of view capable to bring out the social role of the manager with sufficient clarity. A fourth result is in the area of ​​those competences capable of translating judgments, evaluations, points of view (referred to in the previous point) in an effective and fully comprehensible way towards the team to which the manager does belong and / or external stakeholders . The development of communication skills as a tool for the concrete management of a public administration, to be observed and stimulated especially in group work during the course, must be "handed over" to students, emphasizing the role of these skills as an essential element of a participatory management practice. A fifth outcome of the course, always following the thread of Dublin descriptors, can be referred to the construction of an autonomous learning ability. This is perhaps the most delicate and complex result to be built (and also to be verified) with the students. It is very important to "engage" the course participants explicitly, underlining in traditional form (in the classroom or with distance learning), through assignments and in group work how being able to independently strengthen one's learning ability constitutes the basis for in-depth study and constant expansion of one's knowledge and skills.

The course first deals with the issues of defining the perimeter of public activities, their functions and specificities, the underlying theories, the prevailing organizational models, within the background of the complex EU multilevel system. Much of the training course focuses, however, on the various areas of the operational management of a public administration: from strategic planning and programming of activities to budget management, from personnel management (starting with the construction of one's team) to that of the acquisition of the inputs (technologies and skills normally external to the AAPP) necessary for the generation of the final products and services, from the management of digital innovation (Artificial Intelligence in particular) to that of risk management. Whenever appropriate, possible contacts and common themes with other first semester courses will be emphasized.

Cucciniello, M., Fattore, G., Longo, F., Ricciuti, E., Turrini, A. (2024) Management Pubblico, Second edition, Milan, Egea, in particular chapters 1-15. Slides and other material on specific parts of the program will be made available by the teacher.

The course will include traditional lesson activities as well as in-depth analysis through individual and group exercises. During the course some case studies regarding specific administrations will be built and analyzed in order to offer students greater concreteness and "operational representation" of the knowledge and skills conveyed. More in particular, in the first weeks of the course, two well-identified administrations (e.g., a ministry and a municipality) will be selected.These two administrations will be used as a constant reference in the development of the course.

There are three ways through which the performance of students is verified and evaluated: 1. an interim exam in written form, based on the contents of the first half of the course. Students are expected to answer to three short essays in an hour and a half time. The interim exam, scheduled for the 6th week of the course, accounts for 30% of the overall student grade; 2. a class presentation made by student groups in the ninth week of the course on topics agreed with the teacher; (40% of the overall grade); 3. a final exam, in written form, based on the topics dealt with in the second part of the course. Students have to answer, in one hour and thirty minutes, to three short essays. The final exam accounts for 30% of the overall grade. These three ways of evaluating the performance of students are consistent with the results expected from the delivery of the course. Indeed, they are finalized to verify both technical knowledge and full awareness of the complex context of daily administrative life. Furthermore, they seem to allow the teacher to gain more solid knowledge on communication skills typical of a public manager in her/his social environment and on the possible, new capacity of students to learn how to strengthen their autonomous capacity of building up and improving both skills and managerial capacity. Non-attendants will be assessed with a final written exam after the end of the course. Non-attendants will have to follow the same course program of the students regularly attending the course.

The assignment of a master's degree thesis is subject to passing the exam.