The day’s events included a special address by Prof. Rupa Chanda, Director, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and erstwhile IIMB faculty
4 October, 2023, Bengaluru: IIM Bangalore hosted the inauguration and orientation of the 20th batch of the Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy and Management (PGPPM) on 3rd October 2023. The sessions were held in a hybrid format.
The new cohort has close to 20 candidates from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The participants are posted with the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance; Indian Railways; Rural Development Department, Government of Tamil Nadu; Reserve Bank of India; Vice President Secretariat; Ministry of Railways/Accounts; Railway Board; Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Ministry of Labour & Employment/EPFO, and Ministry of Defence/Department of DEF Production.
Five students attended the inauguration and orientation program in person, while the rest joined through Zoom. Additionally, a few PGPPM alumni also joined the sessions.
Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, discussed the commitment of IIMB towards public policy and management, in his inaugural address for the PGPPM batch of 2023-24. “The school has a strong focus on public policy and public management issues. PGPPM is a rigorous, contemporary programme, which has gone through multiple avatars as we keep adapting to the changing needs of the government and individual participants. Post recent discussions with DoPT and in keeping with the philosophy of the government so far as training is concerned, we decided to make the programme hybrid, so that officers do not have to take long leaves of absence from their roles. They can spend shorter time here, while availing all the rigor that goes into the programme. All of you who have joined now are pioneers of the new version.”
Explaining the structure of the new version, he said, “You will be doing some of the sessions online, and spend an intense 10 weeks on campus to take classroom courses. This is the order of the day so far as education is concerned. Programmes with blended content are becoming very popular as there is a strong sense that quite a few things can be learnt online, while things that need intense discussion need the classroom format. So, if you can combine these two, you can get the best of both worlds. You can pursue your careers and goals, and have bursts of intense involvement in the classroom.”
Dispelling any concern that the new format may affect the quality, he said, “We have taken efforts not to dilute the rigor in any way. Active participation is needed from all of you to ensure that the rigor remains at the same level as it was in the one-year fulltime programme of earlier days.”
“We have almost two decades of experience in running high quality education programmes online, hybrid, etc. So, we have a lot of expertise, and this is not an experiment on our part. In fact, we successfully concluded two programmes recently – the Postgraduate Programme in Hospital Management and AI for Managers, delivered in the online mode. We have an inhouse MOOCs team, so we have complete control over the quality and what we offer.”
Prof. R T Krishnan congratulated the new batch on joining at a time when the institute was celebrating its Golden Jubilee and PGPPM its 20th year. He also pointed out that if India was to achieve all its dreams and bring its aspirational blocks to a higher level that what it was today, the quality of policy and management would need to play a very critical role. “Investing in this important programme at this juncture of your career will help you contribute in a more meaningful way to realizing the objectives of the Government. Alumni of this programme, when they went back to their roles in the Government, were able to use the tools and philosophy that they learnt here to be more effective.”
“But you need to invest a lot of effort and time. Only then will your learning be higher, valuable and more effective”, he pointed out.
The day’s events included a special address delivered virtually by Prof. Rupa Chanda, Director, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and erstwhile IIMB faculty. Describing the PGPPM as what would be a “transformative journey” for the new cohort, she said, “This is a journey that promises to offer new perspectives and ideas, challenging existing ones. It will provide new direction for your future, possibly helping redefine your career trajectories.”
Highlighting the importance of joining such a programme, she said she wanted to convey a broader message, which was, to think big, think holistically and to think with empathy.
“The need of the hour for public policy practitioners like you is to look beyond national boundaries and look at a global perspective. India is aspiring to be a strategic national and global power. It is very important to be open to finding approaches and solutions that draw upon successes and good practices of other countries to address our needs. It is about providing solutions and good practices that can be applied elsewhere and about contributing to the discourse on global issues such as climate, health and food security. Just as it is important to understand India in all its complexity and diversity and be able to work pan-India as a civil servant, in an interconnected world where India’s role and stature is growing, it is increasingly important for you to develop a global frame of reference. This involves being aware of global best practices, collaborating with international partners wherever there are opportunities and viewing yourselves as part of the global community. This is also needed to recognize the constraints within which you have to operate because international obligations and frameworks, geopolitical and economic tensions influence what governments can or cannot do and the choices they make. This is how India can become a key player globally.”
To adopt a holistic thought process, she said thinking and learning in a way that cuts across boundaries of disciplines, connecting the dots across different issues, integrating important objectives and concepts, and taking a multidimensional and multistakeholder approach to issues, are needed. “Thus, you can arrive at innovative and relevant solutions and make greater impact. We need to be aware of the big picture to be effective in our individual spheres. As public policy students and practitioners, do not restrict yourselves in specific domains.”
Moving on to explain integrating empathy into policy making, she said, “Embedding the concept of inclusivity and leaving no one behind, are important governing principles. These provide a moral compass and gives us a larger role. These are the learnings that I have acquired in my role at UN in the last two years.”
“Be mindful of these three elements, think of yourself as part of an international community of public policy practitioners, think of issues as something broader than what is presented to you, and think of those who have been left behind, and ensure you can address their needs directly or indirectly through your choices and actions. To be able to develop this mindset, be innovative, think differently, be resilient, forge collaborations for collective solutions, and embrace differences.” Her talk was followed by a Q&A session.
Prof. Rahul Dé, Dean, Programmes and faculty of the Information Systems area of IIMB, in his welcome address, briefed the participants about the new format of PGPPM and said, “We have devised the new version as recommended by DoPT. We have the necessary expertise and technology. There is a lot of experience sharing that happens during the sessions. I would suggest that you mix with other cohorts as well and gain from that experience.”
Dr. Gopal Naik, Chairperson, Centre for Public Policy, delivered the vote of thanks. To the students he said, “We need policy professionals with skills to counter new-age challenges brought about by Artificial Intelligence and its impact on the economy. This is where programmes like PGPPM become important. We will provide you all the inputs. Please ensure that the concepts, skills and best practices are internalized by you.”
Prof. Arnab Mukherji, Chairperson, Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy & Management and faculty of the Public Policy area of IIMB, joined the sessions virtually. The orientation sessions held later on the same day included addresses by Prof. Sourav Mukherji, Dean, Alumni Relations & Development and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area, on: ‘Learning and Teaching via the Case Method’ and by Dr. Gopal Naik on the Centre for Public Policy. Usha Ganesan, Manager, MOOCs - IIMBx and the team offered an overview on MOOCs at IIMB and Dr. Rama Patnaik, Librarian, discussed Library and Services.
On 29th September 2023, the registration formalities were conducted by the Admissions and PGPPM Office, followed by a programme briefing by the PGPPM Office and a briefing by the Computer Centre staff.
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