An LKYSPP MPA Graduate’s Perspective

In June 2020, I graduated from the Master in Public Administration (MPA) programme from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP),  National University of Singapore. LKYSPP's vision is the "world transformed through good governance and leadership excellence".

As a scholar, I want to extend my appreciation to the LKYSPP and Lee Foundation, as well as to provide a brief reflection of my study journey from a land-locked country Kyrgyzstan to Singapore.

July 2019 was the first time I came to Singapore, with the motivation to pursue my postgraduate education. After five years in the corporate sector and ten years in community development I was compelled to transform my career towards investing on human capital - Education! In the last three years, I was a corporate strategist for some of the largest educational companies in Central Asia. In addition, I self-started a multitude of creative educational initiatives. The MPA was an opportunity to sharpen and hone my skills and understanding of public policy. In addition to my core subjects, I took other courses, such as “Education Economics & Policy”, “Technology Policy & Innovation”, “Communication for Public Leadership”, “Effective Policy Implementation”, and “Changes in Singapore Political Economics”. I took advantage of research opportunities to explore further educational policies and the impact of technology in education. I endeavoured to consistently share my learning experience with my professional networks, as well as through social media channels to the larger public.

The MPA cohort was tightly knitted and gave me a lot of exposure to learn from them. A majority of our cohort are in their 30s and come from various government and public sector from over 20 countries. We shared and learned from each other about their governmental policies, community development efforts, and even cultures. This has been truly fascinating for me, who came from a landlocked country in Central Asia. LKYSPP has become the space for us to celebrate our diversity, while nurturing cultural competency and understanding. 

Besides studying, I have actively participated in extra-curricular activities at school. A few examples includes hosting of the school’s Cultural Night, giving a public talk about Central Asia at the “Cross-Learn” platform, promoting educational studies in Singapore to the larger public in collaboration with the school's social media team, and volunteering my spare time supporting other initiatives at school.

Jenny was the speaker for Cross-Learn on 5 November 2019. Cross-Learn is a weekly informal sharing sessions by MPA students to bring together the diverse experiences of the speakers, who speak on any topics, drawing upon their personal and/or professional experiences and aspirations.

[ALUMNI-INFO TEXT="I would like to especially highlight the students' self-organisation of the Cross-Learn platform: most of the stories and policy insights shared by my own fellows were things that I hear for the first time. In the same pattern, when I presented Central Asia to other fellows, it was also eye-opening for them. This was similar to what LKYSPP offers, a chance for us to exchange different viewpoints and learn that one issue might have different perspectives.

The biggest highlight of my study programme was the Governance Study Project 2020. We were given the opportunity to provide policy consultation to Hanoi University under the Ministry of Home Affairs (HUHA) in Vietnam. Our policy recommendations on "Skilling Up Government Officials for the Digital Age in Vietnam" were recognized by our client and HUHA even suggested to share our work to their Ministry and the Vietnam Government. The satisfaction and fulfilment cannot be described in words and I am amazed at the end that as a MPA candidate and among my cohort, we can create positive impactful change to a country's government policy!"][/ALUMNI-INFO]

Last but not least, in order to maximize my experience in South East Asia, I travelled to Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam to learn their histories, explore their cultures, spoke with local community members, and shared their stories to a wider public audience. In short, this program has not only exposed me to Singapore, but also the larger thriving South East Asia region and the people of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

Acknowledging the current crisis under COVID-19, I have been strengthening my resilience in the midst of all these challenges of the current global pandemic and looming economic recession. My plan after the graduation is to apply my knowledge and experience in the technology industry or an international community. I envision to ultimately create an educational venture that can benefit millions of children to access creative education. The founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, recently shared his vision of the "COVID-19: The Great Reset" (2020) that, "Education is becoming the biggest revolution" in the Great Reset era. I would like to continue my journey by giving back through imparting my knowledge and experience via educational initiatives on a larger global scale. 

[ALUMNI-QUOTES TEXT="My sincerest appreciation to LKYSPP, Lee Foundation, Professors, friends, and most importantly my family in Kyrgyzstan in supporting my education. In the near future, I look forward to adding value towards fostering the rich exchange of ideas and authentic collaboration between Central Asia and Singapore, as well as the larger South East Asia region. 

UPDATE: Jenny was nominated to be the Vice President of the LKYSPP Alumni Central Asia & the Caucasus Charter Committee (2020-2022). Additionally, Jenny will continue advocate for regional cooperation in the role of a Community Champion at Central Asia & Azerbaijan, appointed by the head of the Global Shapers Community (an initiative of the World Economic Forum). 

Jenny with her team of LKYSPP won the First Prize of the Master Students Teams at the 2020 Tsinghua SPPM International Case Analysis Competition of Public Policy on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in August 2020. Jenny was co-nominated to be the Best Member of the winning team. On 28 October 2020, LKYSPP Alumni Relations Team organized a webinar for this winning team to share their research findings"][/ALUMNI-QUOTES]