Master of Arts in Public Administration and Governance

I. The Master of Arts in Public Administration and Governance (MPG) will prepare students to become critical and analytical thinkers who can develop effective and equitable solutions to public policy and governance challenges. The programme will help students to learn about the ideas,mechanisms and practices of public policy as well as the nature, quality and legitimacy of the institutions and practices of governance. Through a carefully designed curriculum, the programme aims to prepare students to :

  • a. Critically analyse the ideas, mechanisms, practices and outcomes that shape public policy problems, programmes and policies.
  • b. Provide purposive programmatic solutions and undertake critical and impactful research.
  • c. Become reflective practitioners in public affairs through careers in the Government, development organisations, social enterprises, think tanks, media and other agencies involved in public affairs.

II. The programmes follow a semester and credits based system, consisting of a set of essential core courses that develop foundational understanding and a wide range of elective subjects. The students can acquire specialisations within the programme by choosing a specified set of electives. Innovative curricular approaches include the option to design and conduct an independent study. Students also have the opportunity to choose courses to expand their area of interest. Filed Practice is an integral component of the programme and students spend 16 weeks in field work at partner organisations engaged in different formats like Immersion, Internships, research and Independent Interventions, mentored and guided by Faculty and Field Supervisors.

III. Faculty : The Faculty come from disciplines such as Political Science, Law, Economics and Anthropology besides Policy Studies and have engaged with governments and multilateral institutions in areas of land governance, local governance, policy evaluation, institutional reforms and other areas of public policy.

IV. Governance and Public Policy are recent professional domains that provide wide ranging career opportunities. We expect our students to undertake challenging careers that involve areas such as but not limited to programme evaluation, survey research, policy analysis, programme management, advocacy and other aspects of programme operations and governance.

V. Specialisations : Specialisations in the programme will aim to deepen student’s understanding of specific sectoral, organisational and topical dimensions. Such specialisations can either be domain-specific, such as in health and sustainability or could be process-specific such as NGO sector, public management and forms of social enterprise.

VI. Integrated Field Practice : A mix of experiences spread across all semesters consisting of Immersion Visits, six week organisational internships, faculty mentored research projects and eight week independent field projects.

VII. Vibrant Environment : Learning opportunities through various events like guest lectures, national and international conferences, workshops.

VIII. Programme Design : Total credit requirement for four semesters of M.A. in Public Administration and Governance is 72 of which 39 credits will be for 13 core courses in semester I -IV, 21 credits in 07 Electives in semester III-IV, 04 credits will be for 02 Open Courses and 08 credits for Field Practice during semester breaks. The Core Courses, electives, open Courses and Field Practice are given below :

Semester I Semester II Semester III Semester IV
Constitutional Foundations of State Institutions / The State, Market and Economy / The State and Governance in India ? Public Policy in India / Data, Research Design and Descriptive Methods. Values and Ethics in Public Affairs / Processes of State Action / Everyday State in India / Programme Evaluation / Causal and Inferential Methods. Policy Analysis / Policy Research and Communication Elective 1, Elective 2, Elective 3 State / Transformation and Governance Elective 5, Elective 6 ,Elective 7 OR Option of Independent Study.
Open Course 1 Open Course 2
Field Project 1 – Problem Definition Engagement (2 credits) Field Project 2 – Problem Solving Group Internship (3 credits) Field Project 3 – Policy and Governance Research Fellowship ( 3 credits ) Field Project 3 – Policy and Governance Research Fellowship ( 3 credits )
19 20 15 18

IX. Field Practice : Rigorous field engagements and internships have been designed as part of the programme to help students learn by observing how policy works in practice. The field engagement have three components that are staggered to enable students apply classroom learning to appreciate policy and governance problems and solutions from the ground.

Type Short Description
Sem I break Investigative exercise wherein students will learn to identify problems, map the institutional terrain and survey the impacted community.
Sem II break Problem solving internship wherein groups of students will iteratively develop a plan to meet implementation challenges faced by organizations.
Sem III break Critical policy and governance research through a fellowship mode in an organization.

X. The Regulations of the University of North Bengal relating to M.A. in Public Policy and Governance shall be applicable.

Admission Enquiry