The Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP), the country’s first school of public policy that is focussed on design and management of institutions and rules that govern society, was launched by former-policy makers, industry-leaders, philanthropists and eminent academicians recently.
The launch was flagged off by a keynote address by Gurcharan Das, public intellectual and author, and an inaugural address by NK Singh, Chairperson, Fifteenth Finance Commission of India and former MP, Rajya Sabha.
The school intends to develop a new class of policy leaders for India by equipping policy professionals with knowledge, skills, wisdom and ethics to understand, design and implement local solutions to India’s enduring policy and governance challenges. The one-year Master’s equivalent programme will be a blended design of theory, perspectives and best-practices of public policy from around the world, augmented with technical, managerial and leadership skills. ISPP has already secured commitment of support from industry leaders such as Deloitte, Uber, PwC, Twitter, Dasra, Skill India, GMR Group, Samhita and Manipal Education Group, besides others who will be involved in design of the curriculum and will also enable training and professional development opportunities.
Shubhashis Gangopadhyay will be the Founding Dean of the school. He is the Founder-Director of the India Development Foundation, former professor at the ISI and an advisor to the government of India in several capacities.
Patron members
Patrons of ISPP include Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys; Vallabh Bhanshali, co-founder, Enam Group and Founder- Director of FLAME University; and Jaithirth Rao, founder, former Chairman and Managing Director, Mphasis.
Governing council members include Luis Miranda, Chairman, Centre for Civil Society; Parth Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society; and Balaji Srinivasan, Vice President, Global Initiatives and Strategy.
Parth Shah said, “ISPP is imagined as a 21st century academic institution. It will focus on excellence and deep specialisation in public policy. It will be talent-heavy and asset-light — it will invest in students and source the best faculty from around the world and avoid making heavy infrastructural investments. It is also the institutional successor to several years of public policy programmes that our founding council have conceptualised and run in various forms in colleges and universities across the country.”
Shubhashis Gangopadhyay said, “The establishment of a new institute invariably affords tremendous scope and possibilities to its various stakeholders and that will certainly be the case at ISPP. Our mission and aim is to build a flourishing training and research platform and a vibrant community for talented and ambitious students, faculty and practitioners.”
The school will offer a one-year full-time programme in public policy, design and management to candidates with two-three years of relevant professional experience and will offer full waiver on fees to 20 per cent of enrolled students. Scheduled to commence its first session from August 19, 2019, the course fee will be ₹7 lakh annually.