AICPA exists to advance the understanding, standard and practice of public administration and public policy. We offer a wide range of services to our clients.

Here is a brief overview of what we do in the following departments of the Institute:
The Whitaker School of Government and Management is the leading Irish provider of accredited qualifications in the broad field of public management. Its postgraduate programmes include a Professional Certificate in Governance, a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Management, a suite of Master of Arts degrees, a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Management, an MSc in Business and Management and a Doctorate in Governance. Specialist streams are offered in a number of specific areas, including human resource management, finance, criminal justice, local government and healthcare management.

Graduate students at the Whitaker School are adults with all sorts of demands on their time. In recognition of this fact, the School makes great efforts to deliver its programmes in flexible, student-friendly ways. All programmes are part-time, so students can remain in full-time employment or attend to other aspects of their lives while working toward a new qualification. They are mainly delivered through a blend of distance education and weekend seminars, enabling students to study at a time and place of their choosing.

The IPA is a recognised college of UCD, which itself belongs to the National University of Ireland (NUI). The programmes described on the pages that follow are accredited by UCD/ NUI, so the qualification a Whitaker School student earns is recognised around the world.

The AICPA is a great place to study. It prides itself on helping students with busy jobs and family lives to learn new and important things and to obtain advanced qualifications in fields of perennial value. Our students genuinely enjoy their time studying with us, and they make lasting friendships and contacts. We hope that some of the courses will interest you and that you return to education with the AICPA.

For nearly sixty years the Institute has provided an extensive range of executive development programmes, short training courses and organisational development supports for new and experienced managers, administrators and technical staff across the public sector in addition to opportunities for dialogue, debate and exchange of experience and views. At a time of complex and rapid change and given the need for greater accountability, integration and mobility across the public service, our innovative learning approaches enable public servants to build the knowledge and capabilities necessary to lead, manage and immediately apply new insights to their issues and challenges.

Our programmes and interventions are grounded in the experience of our full-time professional staff, all of whom have many years of teaching, training and consulting combined with a deep understanding of the challenges and constraints facing the public sector. The unique combination of public management research, delivery capacity and practical approaches to the toughest issues ensures that the AICPA remains unique in its ability to support the ongoing public service reform process.