‘Extraordinary’ tutors for ‘no ordinary’ pupils

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 15

Some of the best minds in policy making, academics and industry such as Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary and Chairman, Research and Information System for Developing Countries; Jairam Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha MP; Shashi Tharoor, an MP and former Union Minister of State for External Affairs; Prof Laurent Jacque, Phil A Uhlmann, and Larry Weiss from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; and KP Krishnan, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry for Rural Development, have donned the role of a teacher for the management programme in public policy (MPPP), offered by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy on the Indian School of Business (ISB) campus, Mohali.  

 Interestingly, like these extraordinary teachers, their students are also special. With eight to 34 years of experience in various fields, a group of 40 high-profile government officials and professionals, constituting the first class of the the MPPP, graduating this weekend. 

The first batch includes officials of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Railways Service (IRS), Indian Postal Service (IPS), Indian Defence Service (IDS), Indian Economic Service (IES)Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Union Ministry of Defence and the Niti Aayog besides the professionals from IMRB International, Transparency International (India), Indus Towers and Vodafone.

After the graduation ceremony in Delhi on April 17, they will interact with President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan on April 18.

Other than the eminent teachers, many renowned leaders in public policy, governance and business are invited to speak during MPPP residencies to share their experience of various sectors. These inspiring sessions gave the students the first hand insights into policy making and the challenges faced by the government and the corporates. This ensured an enriching learning experience for the students and a chance for them to interact with the distinguished academics, politicians, bureaucrats and business experts, complementing their rigorous course curriculum.

A course for mid-career professionals 

The management programme in public policy is offered by the Bharti Institute of Public Policy in association with the centre for executive education at the ISB, Mohali. Started last year, the MPPP is tailor-made for mid-career professionals both in the public and private sectors. Its uniqueness stems from providing a rigorous and inter-disciplinary conceptual learning experience for high performing civil servants and private sector professionals and equipping them with the latest knowledge in policy making and implementation around the world while facilitating a cross-border and cross-cultural knowledge exchange between the private and public sectors. It also gives them a first-hand experience of a top bureaucrat’s perspective and leverage the opportunities presented by the government’s interest to involve young people in public services. 

The one-year programme is taught via a unique hybrid model involving intensive classroom sessions spread over a year, interspersed with online interaction and group work, which is the first-of-its-kind in India. The modular residency format facilitates the  acquisition of knowledge and skill sets without requiring students to take a break from their regular jobs. The terms are divided into two residencies each, held in either of the two ISB campuses at Mohali and Hyderabad. Other than this, the classes are mostly through technological tool such as live webcast, online tutorials, lectures, quizzes, and live-chat weekly assignment submissions.

Study trek

All MPPP students are required to spend a week in a village or NGO location to understand the ground realities and the last mile challenges of the public-policy implementation. This is done under the guidance of an experienced mentor.

Capstone project

All MPPP students are required to write an original paper on an approved public policy topic. It is expected that this will integrate all learning into a topic of their choice.   

The programme represents the essence of our approach towards offering education and research that can make an impact on public policy. We are living in an era of changing technology, disruptive economy and complex infrastructure where the role of policy makers is very important. With various stakeholders, it is the need of the hour for the policy makers to have a fact-based, interdisciplinary and scientific approach to policy-making. By bringing both private and public sector employees on a platform as students enhances their understanding of each other’s domain. The knowledge they acquire and the network they build will allow them to work with each other more efficiently to meet the challenges of the emerging markets. — Pradeep Singh, Deputy Dean, ISB