Bridging the knowledge gap between policy and technology

 IIT-Tirupati to launch Master’s programme in Public Policy

With many technically-skilled graduates getting into the public policy saddle to hold the administrative reins, the Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati (IIT-T) has launched a Master’s programme in Public Policy, in a bid to bridge the knowledge gap between technocrats and policy-makers.

The institute currently has 813 B. Tech, 128 M. Tech, 42 MS and 79 M.Sc students, while 190 are pursuing their Ph.D. The Master of Public Policy (MPP) programme, all set to be launched from this academic year 2022-23, is offered under the aegis of its Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The IIT-T is the third among the IITs in India after IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi to offer such a course. The course is offered in three diverse areas of specialisation such as Science and Management of Sustainability, Data Science, and Sustainability and Engineering.

“As our institute lays special focus on sustainability, climate change, agriculture and ecology, this course fits well in the groove of training the students in public policy,” IIT-T Director K.N. Satyanarayana told The Hindu.

Coming in the backdrop of NEP 2020, this multi-disciplinary programme will enable the students to work with a variety of policy-oriented organisations, providing them career prospects in public/private sector and non-profit organisations as consultants, policy researchers and program analysts.

“This course is meant to meet the growing demand for policy professionals and to diversify the intellectual space at our institute, with the larger goal of producing academics and professionals, who can contribute to India’s sustainable development”, adds Rahul Sirohi, HoD (Humanities and Social Sciences).