As part of the course curriculum, the students pursuing MA in Public Policy and Governance spend 16 weeks spread over two years in the field for exposure and hands on experience.

 1: End of First Semester: Understanding Rural Societies and Development in Rural Areas

  At the end of the first semester, the students undertake two weeks of rural exposure. The purpose of the rural immersion programme is to develop an understanding of rural society, structure, agriculture, land holdings, resources, habitation, institutions, areas of inclusion and exclusion, rural politics, market linkages and government policies and programmes pertinent to rural development (applying class room learning to realities). At the end of the rural immersion programme, the students prepare a report delineating their critical observations with the help of facts and figures observed and collected during their rural stay

Representative Reports 

 Batch of 2019: Experiential Learning – December 2017 

Batch of 2022: Experiential Learning - December 2020

2: End of Second Semester: Policy Area Concentration Aligned Experiential Learning

At the beginning of the second semester, the students of MA in Public Policy and Governance (MA-PPG) choose a specific Policy Area Concentration (PAC) in order to specialise in a particular sector of Public Policy. Currently, three PACs are available for the students of MA-PPG - Regulation and Institutions, Urbanisation and Social Conflict and Public Policy.

After the completion of the second semester, the students of each PAC undertake an internship under the aegis of the Public Policy and Good Governance Lab (PPGGL) collaborating with diverse public or private institutions – international, national and local. The purpose of the six-week internship is to provide a hands-on experience on:

• Evidence-based policy studies
• Incubate and experiment with newer policy ideas
• Evaluate and monitor existing policies
• Initiate research, debate and discussion on diverse policy initiatives

Representative Policy Reports

MGNREGA: A Case Study of Jalandhar

SEWA Kendra in Punjab

Contouring the Methods of Targetting in India

Land Use Land Cover Analysis of Indian Cities 

3. End of the Third Semester: Dissertation-Aligned Field Work

 During the course of the third semester, students are required to prepare a research proposal for their master’s dissertation based on the experiential learning component. As per the requirements of the research proposal, students undertake field work for primary data collection. The field work is for 8 weeks duration. On the basis of field work and earlier experiential learning, students write their respective dissertations and later defend it in an open viva-voce.