Director General of the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) Dr. Raed Mohammed bin Shams emphasized on the development of the Bahraini-French relations, stressing on the growth and progress of these ties, particularly in the wake of the official visit of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa to Paris in August 2014. Dr. bin Shams stated that BIPA seeks to develop the relations between Bahraini and France in the field of public administration, in order to take the relations between the two friendly countries to much higher and advanced levels to achieve the vision of the wise leadership, praising the international efforts carried out by the French public administration institutes and schools to improve public administration field.
This came during BIPA's meeting with a joint French delegation led by the Founding Director of the Institute of Public Management and French Territorial Governance Robert Fouchet, and the second French delegation led by the Director of Research at the National School of Public Administration Dr. Fabrice Larrat. Both sides discussed the details of the Master Program in Public Administration, which BIPA aspires to inaugurate shortly in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The two sides also discussed the detailed content of the program and the mechanisms in place for adoption in a way that goes in line with the new developments in the science of public administration.
Dr. bin Shams stated that the master's program in public administration will contribute to making Bahrain a center for attracting and developing knowledge in the Arab world, adding that the strategic goals of the Master of Public Administration seek to create a group of qualified human resources for practical advancement of the local and regional government work; and to be able to develop scientific research in public administration that serves the Kingdom of Bahrain and the region, which will qualify the Kingdom to assume a central point in the process of scientific research that attracts those interested in the research area to provide researches concerned with the public administration issues in the region.
During the meeting, Dr. bin Shams pointed out that the efforts exerted by BIPA in launching the master's program in public administration are concentrated on empowering government leaders to make policies based on scientific facts and grounds in order to improve government performance and to meet the aspirations of citizens in Bahrain, which is referred to clearly in the government action program for the years 2014 -2018.
Furthermore, the master's program works integrally to support the national program for the development of national leaders, as it covers scientific and theoretical aspects of applied academic perspective; compared to the training programs offered by the Institute, which focus on the development of competencies and skills in all components related to leadership.
Dr. bin Shams added that the master's program will establish a research foundation by encouraging those who have the desire to continue scientific research to carry on the process of research, stressing on Bahrain's need of administrative efficiencies experienced in public administration who combine academic side with the professional aspect to be distinguished administration leaders, the thing which is now possible through the master's program, which was founded by the best French Research University (Aix-Marseille University) with the best Institute of Public Administration in the world (ENA).
It is noteworthy that the master's program in public administration will be the first academic program to be introduced in the Kingdom of Bahrain by a local university to meet mainly the scientific and professional needs of the public sector, and it is expected to be introduced in 2016.