The last decades have witnessed a headlong rush by most major universities in the world to become identified in someway with public policy analysis as a field of focus. The academic landscape is now dotted with new professional schools, departments and institutes specifically created to deal with this subject as well as with long-established academic units that have undergone programme reorientation. Degrees with specialisations in public policy are now offered at undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. Several journals in policy studies have been launched, and a number of other distinguished periodicals have been regularly devoting space to this subject. This brief article can do little more than highlight the major features of policy analysis as an educational field and the myth and reality of policy analysis. It focuses on the origins of this field, the major tracks of study, the approach and content of the subject matter, the