The Cornell Institute for Public Affairs or CIPA as it is popularly known as helps students prepare themselves for a career in public policy and government affairs. The two-year interdisciplinary MPA program offers students the opportunity to select course-modules and structure their course. Students can choose from eight subject concentrations - Economics and Financial Policy, Environmental Policy, Government, Politics, and Policy Studies, Human Rights and Social Justice, International Development Studies, Public and Nonprofit Management, Science, Technology and Infrastructure Policy and Social Policy. The CIPA program formally launched in 1984 and has gone on from strength to strength to become one of the most popular courses of its kind in the USA.