This article addresses the role and opportunities for public administration and public affairs education in North Cyprus. The context of the research is situated within a transnational education partnership between the University of the West of Scotland and the Management Centre of the Mediterranean (Nicosia, North Cyprus). The dominant narrative of the article is, based on the case of North Cyprus, to provide key insights into why public administration and public affairs education is a force for development in governance and civil society terms. The political context of North Cyprus is such that it is in the midst of significant change based on the twin governance challenges of, first, uncertainty regarding its international status (following the Cypriot coup d'etat and Turkish intervention in 1974 that led to North declaring independence in 1983 and becoming the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus) and, second, efforts to accommodate 'acquis communautaire' in order to progress towards EU accession (subject to successful reunification with the South). An underpinning reflective consideration in the article relates to how such educational programmes, based on a franchised model, address aspects of 'good governance' (often based on a Western paradigm) but, at the same time, are also suitably responsive to local civil society and political contexts.