My Summer Experiences at Harvard

1
My Summer Experiences at Harvard

• Jack Wu
• Department of Public Finance

2
Program

• Executive Program of Public Financial Management,
  John Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
  University, 2007/07/092007/07/27?
• Main TopicBudgeting Management

3
Application

• Step one Ask for approval from the academic
  committee of social Sciences college
• Step two Seek for the programs application
  information from the website of Kennedy School
• Step three File the applications including
  application form, study plan, and recommendation
  letters
• Step four Wait for the admission
• Step five Acquire for invoice number
• Step six Pay tuition after receiving money from
  school
• Step seven Apply for B1 visa (not student visa)

4
Classmates

• 40 classmates from 32 different countries
• Majority of my classmates are from Ministry of
  Finance?Others are from Ministry of Defense,
  Ministry of Education, Parliament, and academia.

5
Accommodation

• All students live at Soldier Field Park Apartment
  Complex next to Business School. Each apartment
  has two or three students.
• Meals excluding dinner are covered by tuition.

6
Schedule

• 730-800Breakfast
• 810-900Group discussion
• 910-10301st period
• 1030-1100Coffee Hour
• 1100-12302nd period
• 1230-200Lunch break
• 210-3303rd period
• 330-400Coffee Hour
• 410-5304th period

7
Faculty

• Lawrence SummersFiscal Policy
• Jeff FrankelMacroeconomy and Fiscal Policy
• Jay RosengardRevenue
• Steve PetersonPublic Financial Management
• Perran PenroseBudgeting
• OthersFinancial information system

8
Modules

• Module 1 Political Economy and the
  Macroeconomics of the Budget
• Module 2 How to Look at a Budget
• Module 3 Accounts and Financial Report
• Module 4 Costs in the Budget
• Module 5 Budget Execution
• Module 6 Revenue
• Module 7 Budget Planning and Implementation
• Module 8 Aggregate Budgeting and Performance
• Module 9 Financial Information and Systems
• Module 10 Political Accountability and
  Legislature Oversight
• Module 11Assessing Financial Systems
• Module 12 Changing Public Financial Management
  Systems
• Module 13 Decentralization

9
In Classroom

• Students need to read assigned literatures and
  cases at previous night
• Student discuss cases in the morning group
  meeting after breakfast
• Professors mainly lecture, but invite students to
  join discussions.
• Professors often recall cases that have been
  discussed in the morning group meeting.

10
Group Presentation

• Students are divided into 6 groups with 6
  different topics

11
Case Method Teaching

• Almost every professor uses cases in the class.
  However, most of them mainly lecture.

12
Success of Case Method Teaching

• Lecturers need to know a lot of practical cases.
• Lecturers need to control the discussion and to
  summarize the discussion efficiently.
• It needs good cases.
• Students are required to read cases in advance.
• Case method teaching is appropriate for executive
  programs.

13
classroom
14
Coffee hour
15
Professor
16
Group Presentation
17
Certificate
18
Charles River