Trans-European Dialogue 2027

First Meeting of the IASIA and the UN DESA Task Force for the Review of the Standards of Excellence in Public Administration Education and Training

Diogo Pereira,

The International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) held the First Meeting of the IASIA/UN DESA Task Force for the Review of the Standards of Excellence for Public Administration Education and Training on April 18, 2023. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the need to revamp the Standards of Excellence and agree on how to proceed to build a common shared roadmap.

The Standards of Excellence for Public Administration Education and Training were developed in 2008 and provide guidelines for schools of public administration and institutes of public management to evaluate the quality of their programs. However, these standards were developed before the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by 193 Member States. Therefore, they do not include recent inter-governmental agreements and insights from UN DESA/DPIDG and IASIA's work in the area of education and training.

The joint initiative to review and update the Standards of Excellence is part of IASIA and UN DESA commitment to ensuring that public administration education and training programs equip current and future public sector leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to address the key issues facing the world today.

In 2013, IASIA established the International Commission on Accreditation of Public Administration Education and Training (ICAPA), which provides an international accreditation system for public administration education and training programs, enabling schools and institutes to demonstrate that they meet high standards of quality and are committed to continuous improvement.

Accreditation by ICAPA ensures that public administration education and training programs equip current and future public sector leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to address the key issues facing the world today. Through its accreditation process, ICAPA also contributes to the standardization and harmonization of public administration education and training programs worldwide.

 Know more about ICAPA

Public administration and management research has long drawn most of its ideas from Western, industrialised democracies. Yet Asia and the Global South have become major sites of administrative change, with large-scale reforms, fast-moving technology and some of the most inventive experiments in governance. Research from these regions has grown accordingly, but it is still often used to illustrate or apply theories made elsewhere, rather than to produce new ones.

This special issue of Public Management Review aims to change that. It invites authors to treat practice in Asia and the Global South as a starting point for theory: to test, question or extend established approaches, and to propose new concepts and explanations. It does not look for a single theory of these regions, which are far too diverse for that, but for context-sensitive contributions that also say something useful for policy and practice.

ASPA and EGPA call for papers | New Orleans, April 12-13, 2027 | Deadline: November 30, 2026

As democratic institutions face mounting pressure worldwide, public administrators are increasingly asked to spell out the role of their field in protecting and improving democratic systems. The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and the European Group for Public Administration (EGPA) are responding with the 2027 Transatlantic Dialogue (TAD), held alongside ASPA’s Annual Conference.

The theme is The Role of Public Policy and Administration in Shaping Democracy and Promoting the Resilience of Democratic Norms and Institutions.

From 12 to 16 October 2026, the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA) held its Annual Conference in Athens, hosted by EKDDA, the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government. Under the theme “Rethinking Governance for a Changing World”, the conference gathered 400 delegates from 57 countries and marked the 65th anniversary of the association. Athens was a conference grounded by learning and history but also new projects and connexions.

Modify cookies