The emerging complex challenges confronting public administration (PA) leaders are used as reasons for rethinking the quality of PA education throughout the world. However, it is not clear what PA scholars mean when they use the word ‘challenge’ when rethinking the curricula of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) programmes globally. The questions this study set to answer were: what are the defining characteristics of the concept corresponding to those objects referred to as ‘challenges’ for MPA graduates to meet, and what are their implications for MPA curriculum standards? In an effort to answer these questions, a concept analysis of the concept ‘challenge’ within the context of PA and MPA curricula was done. For this purpose, three scholarly journals, as well as three operational documents, were purposefully selected for qualitative content analysis. The concept analysis showed that ‘challenge’ within the context of the MPA curriculum is characterised by being a PA task, its wickedness, and the required capabilities for public sector managers to undertake that task. The study found that due to the inherent wickedness of challenges, MPA curricula have to instil a capability in graduates for independent and autonomous thinking amidst a diversity of perspectives and settings.

中文翻译：

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为公共管理硕士课程提供信息的挑战

公共行政 (PA) 领导者面临的新出现的复杂挑战被用作重新思考全世界公共行政教育质量的理由。然而，在重新思考全球公共管理硕士 (MPA) 课程的课程时，PA 学者使用“挑战”一词时的含义尚不清楚。本研究将要回答的问题是：与被称为 MPA 毕业生要满足的“挑战”的对象相对应的概念的定义特征是什么，它们对 MPA 课程标准的影响是什么？为了回答这些问题，我们对 PA 和 MPA 课程中的“挑战”概念进行了概念分析。为此，三份学术期刊以及三份操作文件，有目的地选择进行定性内容分析。概念分析表明，MPA 课程背景下的“挑战”的特点是作为 PA 任务、其邪恶性以及公共部门管理人员承担该任务所需的能力。研究发现，由于挑战固有的邪恶性，MPA 课程必须向毕业生灌输在各种观点和环境中进行独立和自主思考的能力。