IIM-A starts 1-yr course in public policy

At the launch of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A)'s one-year post-graduate programme in public management and policy (PGP-PMP), the institute is already looking forward to its next academic session where it envisages young politicians to apply for the course.

The inaugural batch this year has a class strength of 33 of which 15 are sponsored candidates. Candidates for the course include employees from Tata Steel, Indian Railways, Care India, Hudco, Excise and Customs, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Governments of Rajasthan, Pondicherry, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh among others.

The full-time residential programme is targeted at mid-career executives with at least seven years of work experience and it will lead to a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Management and Policy.

The method of study for the PGP-PMP will be based on interactive lecture discussions, syndicate presentations, management games and exercises. Besides the institute's faculty, guest faculty and practitioners will take up special sessions.

The course covers three modules: a core management (CM) module, a core public management and policy (CPMP) module and electives leading to specialisation in a number of areas.

The programme will share the core management module with IIM-A's one-year Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) of IIM- A.

The course also includes an international exchange programme of five weeks for which IIM-A has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with four international universities and is set to tie-up with two more in the coming months. The fees for the programme is Rs 7.5 lakh for central government sponsored candidates and Rs 9 lakh for others.

Addressing the participants on the occasion, Vijaypat Singhania, chairman of the IIM-A governing board said, "As an outsider I have thought that public officers have a fixed mindset. But I hope the present batch will be open to learning and say I want to know rather than I know."

"With politics in the country now becoming hereditary, we expect young politicians with interest in public management and policy to apply for the course from the next academic year," said Sebastian Morris, chairperson of the PGP-PMP.

To the present batch he stressed that more than the policy, its implementation should be a key factor for a public sector employee.