NIU’s master’s in public administration program, with a nearly 100 percent job-placement rate, is one of the top programs in the nation.

The program ranked fourth in the area of city management and eighth in public finance by the U.S. News & World Reports College Rankings. The rankings were issued this spring – the first year the magazine has ranked graduate programs in the field of public affairs.

The ranking is not surprising to some students.

“NIU has a pretty good political science program,” said Alison Dowdle, a senior political science major. “I am not that shocked that we ranked as high as we did in city management.”

Schools are ranked based on expert opinion about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of the school’s faculty, research, students and achievements made by the program’s graduates.

The keys to the success of the MPA program are its focus on city management education and its internships, said Gerald Gabris, program director of the Division of Public Administration.

Gabris said over 1,000 students have graduated from the MPA program and nearly half of them work in city management.

In past years, the average enrollment has been between 80 and 90 students, Gabris said. Enrollment jumped to about 100 students this year.

One of the major attractions of the program is the internships, which are paid and give students a two-year period of “in-career” experience.

“This is unique because not many programs have in-career students,” Gabris said.

The MPA program claims to have a near 100 percent placement of students in jobs within six months after graduation.

“Anything in political science tends to be very competitive, so a program that practically ensures job placement is an important factor in making decisions about which grad school to attend,” Dowdle said.

The public administration program is a branch of the political science department.