June 3, 2019: The Jindal School of Government & Public Policy (JSGP) of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has successfully completed the academic year 2018-19, with its students graduating in both Public Policy, and Economics programmes having multiple options ranging from exciting careers, to offers from prestigious universities, and some with highly sought-after fellowships.
Speaking about the growing popularity of Public Policy as a rewarding career option, Professor (Dr) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor of JGU, commented “There is an increasing interest among youth to professionally engage with the public policy processes, both at the state and at the Union government levels. This is evidenced by the increasing number of newer schools offering programmes in public policy, and the significant increase in number of students applying for the MAPP programme of the JSGP. Our graduates from both courses have secured enviable placements and are embarking on exciting careers. This is a vote of confidence in the quality of education imparted to them.”
Master’s in Public Policy (MAPP) graduates have a wide choice of careers, including civil services; consultancies; policy analysis, and research in governments, quasi-governmental organizations; United Nations (UN) organisations; international development organizations; think-tanks; academia, trade and industry associations; and several not for-profit ventures supported by corporate social responsibility (CSR).
MAPP students, of previous as well as current graduating batches, have had exciting offers for internships as well as placements from reputed organizations such as Centre for Civil Society (CSS), NITI Aayog, Accountability India, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Growth Centre (IGC), and Public Affairs Centre (PAC). The students who were successful in civil service examinations felt the MAPP programme provided them firm grounding in a wide variety of related disciplines which are essential for success in competitive examinations.
Professor R. Sudarshan, the Dean of JSGP, believes that “both the public policy M.A. and the B.A. Hons. Economics programmes have unique features that differentiate them from courses offered elsewhere. Economics students are exposed to state of the art developments, including game, behavioural and complexity theories. Public policy graduates are trained to be truly inter-disciplinary, drawing upon insights from multiple disciplines related to human behaviour. Adding depth to range, students can specialise in health policy, for now, with more specialisations in the offing.”
The MAPP students have a choice of completing the programme with a dissertation or by undertaking a ‘Capstone Project’. The dissertation enables students to provide fresh research-based perspectives on important policy challenges. Whereas, the ‘Capstone Project’ enables students to apply their knowledge and skills gained in the programme to real-world assignments to the satisfaction of ‘client’ institutions, and thereby serves as a stepping stone to rewarding employment.
Professor Vivek Padvetnaya, the Associate Dean for Careers, pointed out that Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with many organizations, the efforts of the dedicated career services team, and personalised inputs from experienced faculty advisors, all help students to find appropriate internships, capstone projects and community engagement, thereby opening up many avenues for meaningful careers.
Graduates of the B.A. Economics (Hons) programme have also received offers to pursue higher studies from prestigious universities such as Boston University, University of Pennsylvania, King’s College, Monash University, University of Sydney and Graduate Institute in Geneva; some of them with full scholarships. It is noteworthy that this is the first batch of the UG programme that is graduating.
Professor Sonali Roy, the Dean for Academics at the JSGP observes, “the BA-Economics programme other than providing a broad-based introduction to the discipline of Economics, offers core courses in special topics such as Game Theory and Equity and Fairness at an advanced level. Also, the programme being situated in a public policy school provides a unique opportunity for students to test the utility of Economic theories and principles in explaining socio-political issues which have economic implications.”
Three of the graduating students of the JSGP also secured the Legislative Assistant to Member of Parliament (LAMP) fellowship offered by the PRS Legislative Research. The LAMP fellows have the opportunity to be mentored by Members of Parliament and to engage with leading experts in finding policy solutions to pressing development issues.
Both the programmes being situated in a broad-based university provides an excellent opportunity for students to select from a wide range of elective courses. This will help students, on one hand, to gain specialist knowledge in their areas of interest through an optimal mix of courses, and on the other, to narrow their choices for higher studies.