The increasing complexity of functions of the state and their forms of intervention requires a new understanding of public services in general and the modernization of public administration.
Decision-makers with interdisciplinary skills are needed, since they understand and can offer suggestions on how to solve management problems, as well as economic, political and legal problems. As Switzerland is a place where three cultures and languages come together, a multicultural approach to management in the public and semi-public sector is required. To satisfy this requirement, the universities of Bern, Lausanne and Italian Switzerland offer a joint Master of Arts in Public Management and Policy (PMP master's). This course includes interdisciplinary training, methodological tools, case studies and exercises from the public sector as well as subject seminars in which students can use their specialist knowledge to consider how to deal with the reality of public administration. The various regional cultures are incorporated by lecturers from the three language regions and with various fields of study being offered.