F1GD 5720 - Evaluation of Public Policies : Issues, practices and Comparative Processes

***UPDATED for 2025/26***

This course discusses the main strategic approaches and operational tools of public policy evaluation. It aims to develop skills to critically understand and debate about the success or failure of policies in a context of massive transformations (performance of public spending, rise of impact assessment methods, citizen involvement in public sector, open and innovative governments, context of risks, uncertainty and crisis…).

Learning Outcomes

• Student will be able to replace evaluation (and the policy learning it prompts) into the evolution of policy over time
• Students will understand the role and influence of evaluation in the policy making process and for organizational change
• Students will become familiar with the core issues and approaches of strategic evaluation

Professional Skills

• Students will be able to manage a basic evaluation process from A to Z (framing the topic, set up the objectives, select a relevant approach…)
• Students will develop skills to design a methodological framework for evaluation and use the most common instruments of evaluation techniques (both qualitative and quantitative)

2.Students will be able to transfer evaluation findings into the decision-making process and prepare their implementation through an action plan

No formal prerequisite. However, the course will refer to basic knowledge in politics, public policy analysis, political economy and public management, therefore students will need to review or study some of these concepts by themselves.

A first feedback will be provided at session 5 or 6, before the mid-term break on the basis of the first group work. A final feedback will be provided after the semester and the grading of the final exam at home.

Grading will be based on :

• Active participation to the course and delivery of at least one short assignment given between the sessions (20%, Individual)
• Oral presentations in groups of 3 students (40%, team-based)
• A final case study at home and submitted at the end of the semester (40% - Individual)

• Attendance and participation during the sessions (2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester)
• Readings, short assignments and practical exercises between sessions: (3 hours a week / 36 hours a semester)
• Research and preparation for oral presentations: 30-40 hours a semester
• Research and preparation for the final case study: 30-40 hours a semester