Training Tomorrow's intelligence-Amplified Policy Analyst: A Public Administration Curriculum for the Digital Era

Abstract

Technology change has continually affected the practice of public administration and policy analysis, and it is anticipated that an acceleration of this change will affect the required skill sets of public servants in the coming decade. This thesis focuses on two aspects of technology change as it might affect public policy analysis and the skill requirements of public servants: the transition from policy analysis to policy analytics; and the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by knowledge workers as a complement to (rather than substitute for) their activities, conceptualized as Intelligence Amplification (IA). Interviews were conducted with Canadian public sector executives and leaders of Canadian university public administration and public policy schools. The research explores questions around how these changes— policy analytics and IA—may require a reconfiguration of the skills of future public servants. A policy analytics future suggests a need for more widespread capability in working with big data and undertaking data analytics. An IA future raises questions about what value policy analysts bring to the policymaking process, and what skill mix the public service workforce will need to effectively take advantage of the capabilities that AI will offer in the not-too-distant future. I conclude with recommendations as to how schools of public administration and public policy might adapt their curricula to better prepare future public servants for the impending changes of the digital era. I