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Public Administration vocabulary · Ministries and Agencies

Department

Meaning in public administration, with examples

/dɪˈpɑːtmənt/nounCore term

In public administration, department means: A unit of an organization responsible for one area of work, such as human resources or legal affairs; in the UK and the US, also the name for a whole ministry.

In Turkish: daire başkanlığı, birim, bakanlık

How it is used

Used at two levels. Inside a ministry or municipality it is a unit: the IT department, head of department. In the UK and the US it often names the ministry itself: the Department for Transport, the Department of Labor. Check which level a text means.

Example sentences

  1. Please send the signed form to the human resources department.

  2. She was promoted to head of department after the restructuring.

Common collocations

  • head of department
  • government department
  • legal department
  • across departments
  • ministryA central government body led by a minister and responsible for one area of policy, such as health, education, finance or transport.
  • directorateAn administrative unit led by a director, usually part of a ministry or agency, such as a directorate-general at national level or a provincial directorate.
  • hierarchyA system in which people or units are arranged in levels of authority, with each level reporting to the one above it.
  • government agencyA public organization set up to carry out a specific task, such as collecting taxes, issuing licences or managing roads, often with some independence from the ministry above it.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Ministries and Agencies

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