Few lines about Public Policy
Public policy is best described as the broad area of government laws, regulations, court decisions and local ordinances. Public policy is the means by which a government maintains order or addresses the needs of its citizens through actions defined by its constitution.
If this definition sounds vague or confusing. It’s likely because a public policy is generally not a tangible thing but rather is a term used to describe a collection of laws, mandates or regulations established through a political process.
Introduction to MA Public Policy
MA Public Policy is a 2-years post graduate course that is divided into 4-semesters. The course will teach the students to give an effective performance in environments of complex policy. The students will be equipped with the skills of addressing economic, political and social issues and managing these issues by coming up with coherent solutions.
The course covers various topics like law, governance, statistical and data analysis, qualitative research, public policy process, academic writing, economics for public policy, social and cultural theory along with other subjects.
Eligibility for MA Public Policy
The students who have completed their degree in any stream with 50% aggregate from recognised university are eligible to apply for MA Public Policy.
Admission Procedures
The students with relevant qualifications can join the MA Public Policy course by two modes. The first one is Merit based admission and the second one is direct admission.
Let’s discuss in detail
1. Merit Admission
There are some reputed educational institutes that conduct entrance exams for the MA Public Policy course. This mode is called merit admission mode. The entrance exams are conducted to select the serious and hardworking students from the group of non-serious candidates to a limited number of seats in the colleges. The qualified students are allotted the merit seats and are given admission, the fees are fairly nominal for merit admissions.
2. Direct Admission
The students have another option of getting admission to MA Public Policy course by direct admission process. Under this mode of admission, the students are given direct admission to their desired colleges under management quota. The main advantage of direct admissions is that the students are not required to appear for any entrance exams for getting admissions. Another advantage is that they can choose their desired colleges and book their seats in advance even before the starting of the academic year. The students who are interested in direct admissions are required to contact Educational Advisory centres for more details.
Course Curriculum for MA Public Policy
The students of MA Public Policy will be studying the following subjects during their course duration
| Sl. No. | Subjects of Study |
|---|---|
| 1 | Law, Governance and Institution |
| 2 | Statistical and Data Analysis |
| 3 | Qualitative Research Methodology |
| 4 | Introduction to Public Policy Process |
| 5 | Academic Writing Workshop |
| 6 | Economics for Public Policy |
| 7 | Political Philosophy for Public Policy |
| 8 | Policy Action Workshop |
| 9 | Social and Cultural Theory |
| 10 | Public Finance and Administration |
| 11 | Programme Design and Evaluation |
| 12 | Pre-Dissertation Workshop |
| 13 | Dissertation/Capstone |
Career and Scope
The students who successfully complete the post-graduation in Public Policy can work in government and intergovernmental organisations. The career options for these post graduates are in the field of research, advocacy, monitoring in civil society organisations and social entrepreneurship. They can join PhD to take up research, or they can join as lecturers in various colleges to take up teaching of the course.
Job Roles
Some of the job roles available are:
- Policy Analyst
- Lobbyist
- Public Affairs Manager
- Research Associate
- Chief Administrative Officer
Salary and Emoluments
The fresh MA Public Policy students will be earning around 4 lakhs to 6 lakhs per annum. The experienced professionals will be earning around 6 lakhs to 8 lakhs per annum.
Top recruiting organisations
Some of the recruiting organisations are:
- Action Aid
- Bennet & Coleman
- Infosys Foundation
- Tata Foundation
- Reliance Foundation
Concluding Lines
There is a fair amount of demand for MA Public Policy students. They are basically required in NGOs, non-profit organisations, etc. They are responsible to ensure that the benefits from government are correctly distributed across all the beneficiaries. They are also responsible to monitor and execute the government projects in an area and ensure that work is taken up in a fast pace.
The students of MA Public Policy will be earning a decent salary and also have excellent career growth opportunities in the field. The students who are interested in working towards society can join the MA Public Policy course and serve the needy.