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Azim Premji University Masters in Education-Development-Public Policy and Governance-2020-Preparation

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The availability of trained professionals in education, development and allied social sectors in India is grossly inadequate, given the scale, complexity of issues and the wide range of competencies required to work in these areas. Azim Premji University’s key mission is to address this significant talent gap and prepare competent, motivated, socially committed graduates and enable them to engage with social sector.

M.A. in Education

30 crore children. 15 lakh schools. 70 lakh teachers.
The system needs trained professionals.

Our efforts to improve public education in India requires highly capable and committed education personnel in substantial numbers. There is a dire need for people who can understand the domain of education and take up a variety of responsibilities ranging from classroom teaching to policy formulation to program management in education. The availability of trained professionals in education sector is grossly inadequate, given the scale, complexity of issues and the wide range of competencies required to work in these areas.

The Master of Arts in Education Programme at Azim Premji University aims to address the significant talent gap in the Education sector. This unique broad-based programme of study includes theory, practice, research, policy and planning in education. They will be equipped to take up roles such as Program Associates/Managers, Curriculum designers, Teacher Educators, School Leaders, Researchers etc.

After M.A. in Education-

Students after successful completion of our programmes will develop the vision, social concern, and motivation to create a basis for education action. They will develop as confident professionals who can meaningfully contribute in the education sector.

They will take up roles such as Curriculum designer, Policy maker, School Leader, Teacher Educator, Designer of learning materials, Researcher in education, Program Manager of educational interventions, Associates working to address issues of access and equity in education etc.  In addition, they can also be social entrepreneurs capable of implementing path-breaking solutions to social problems.

There is a perception in our society that the only way to contribute to the education sector is as a teacher. However, education has many aspects such as curriculum design, policy, issues of access and equity, school management, education of teachers, design of learning materials, assessment and research, that deserve attention and serious study. Country with 15 lakh schools, 80 lakh teachers and 25 crore school going children requires a large pool of Education professionals.

The M.A. Education programme aims to address this significant talent gap of the Education sector. Further, an increasing demand for people in the education sector is evident from the following data:

  •  India needs over five lakh teachers in the public schools to fulfill the RTE norms;
  •  Over 50% vacancies in the government teacher education institutions;
  •  Thousands of NGOs working towards primarily education and health;
  •  Rise in the involvement of the corporates through their CSR initiatives.

M.A. in Development

India has daunting developmental challenges – An alarming number of children suffer from stunted growth; Nearly 50 per cent of Indian women are anaemic, a large percentage of school-going children are unable to learn anything useful in spite of being in school for a long time; farmers are struggling for decent income; decent jobs are rare, water is scarce in many cities, pollution is already a menace in almost all urban Indian centres.

These are just some of the problems. Addressing them requires a different set of skills and knowledge.

It demands – A holistic understanding and Study of:

  1. Indian society, its people and their culture,
  2. Various institutions and structures that influence people’s lives,
  3. Existing government policies at work, and
  4. How some other countries have addressed similar problems.

This learning may be broadly defined as Development education.

Development interventions now take place in multiple sites and scales — local, national and international, in the shape and form of policy, programmes, movements, campaigns, institution, model buildings etc.

  1. Development professionals are recruited by local NGOs, CBOs, national level CSOs, national and international campaigns, social movements, banks, philanthropic foundations, CSR units of corporate bodies and of course, government missions and UN organisations.
  2. Their roles vary from directly mobilising communities for behaviour change, building lasting community institutions, district level programme oversight, to policy analysis, programme design, Programme evaluation.
  3. Social entrepreneurs capable of innovative thinking are needed to ideate, create and implement path-breaking solutions to social problems.

M.A. in Public Policy and Governance (MPG)

Understanding complex public problems and designing effective solutions for them are challenging tasks. There is no single social-science or management subject which addresses this.

A public problem may be something as basic as garbage crisis in the neighbourhood, potholes on the roads or the dominance of money power in elections. But finding solutions to problems like these is neither simple nor straightforward as experience shows us.

A number of subjects like political science and public administration do deal with public affairs in general but their central focus is not solving these public problems or analysing how public institutions go about solving such problems. It is this gap which Public Policy as a subject of inquiry seeks to fill.

MPG graduates are engaged in challenging careers:-

  •  Working in the Public-government sector in Program Implementation for national and subnational schemes;
  •  Non-profit organisations for Measuring Impact, Monitoring and Evaluation of programs;
  •  Political-consulting for Policy Research and Campaign Management advise to political candidates and parties;
  •  Academics as Research associates.

A common theme across all these job roles is the application of policy analysis, program evaluation, research and consulting, development of program-level strategy, performance measurement and managing a network of stakeholders and leading project teams. Organizations hiring MPG graduates look for candidates with excellent communication skills, analytical abilities, and managerial skills and above all—an appreciation, passion, dedication, and aptitude to understand complex public policy processes, articulate governance challenges, strategize for community mobilization and issue-based campaigns, and the ability to deliver results by navigating inter-governmental administrative structures.

TEST STRUCTURE

The selection process for the Postgraduate Programme include:

1. Entrance Test

Part 1: Test will assess the English language capacities and quantitative capacities.

Part 2: Applicants will have to write an essay/ data analysis/ problem solving based on their major preference which would assess writing and analytical skills.

National Entrance Test Structure

PartSectionNo of questionsQuestion typeTime
Part 1
Common for M.A. Education, Development, Public Policy & Governance and LL.M. programmes
Reading Comprehension25Multiple choice2 hours
Reasoning Ability10Multiple choice
Quantitative Ability25Multiple choice
General & Social Awareness20Multiple choice
Total Questions80Multiple choice
Part 2Essay1Essay (500 words) based on the First Programme Preference1 hour
Legal Essay (Only for LL.M. Programme)11 out of 2 questions to be attempted

2. Personal Interview

Shortlisted Candidates will be called for a personal interview.
Our faculty members will interact with the candidates to understand their motivation to pursue postgraduate programmes at Azim Premji Uinversity.

Test & Interview Centre

Test centers across 30 Locations: –

AhmedabadBengaluruBhopalBhubaneshwar
CalicutChandigarhChennaiDelhi
DehradunDharwadGulbargaGuwahati
HyderabadIndoreJaipurKolkata
LucknowMaduraiMangaloreMumbai
NagpurPatnapondicherryPune
RaipurRanchiSirsiThiruvananthapuram
VaranasiVisakhapatnam

Interview centers across 16 Locations: –

AhmedabadBengaluruBhopalBhubaneshwar
CalicutChennaiDehradunDelhi
GuwahatiHyderabadJaipurKolkata
LucknowMumbaiNagpurPatna

University may decide to organise additional rounds / accept other test scores for admission to Azim Premji University.

University has the right to add/remove the test centre and interview Centre

Important Dates
Admission processDates
Last date to apply26 January 2020
Entrance test date8 February 2020
Interview processMarch 2020
OffersApril 2020
Academic session startsJuly 2020

APPLICATION PROCESS

Eligibility

Master of Arts in Education / Development / Public Policy & governance / Economics

  • Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline (including Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Engineering, Medicine, Agriculture, Commerce, Management, etc.) from a recognized University.
  • Undergraduate students who are appearing for their final year examinations and completing their graduation on or before September 2020 are also eligible to apply. The offer of provisional admission is valid only on successful completion of graduation.

Candidates with work experience are actively encouraged to apply.

Guaranteed 50% waiver on Tuition-fee for candidates with more than 3 years of work experience after graduation. 

LL.M. in Law and Development

Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B. 3years / 5 years) from a recognised University in India or abroad.

Candidates with relevant work experience are encouraged to apply.

Few of the achievers from Catalyst pursuing Masters at Azim Premji University :

Megha Raha – M.A. Development; Bonhisikha Ukil – M.A. Public Policy; Sucharita Mitra – M.A. Development; Ankita Banerjee – M.A. Development; Gargi Bakshi – M.A. Public Policy; Srijita Basak – M.A. Education; Trisha Seal – M.A. Public Policy and many more

Capacity Building Session by Porag Shome, Faculty, Development, Azim Premji University at Loreto College Kolkata powered by Catalyst

Register for a free of cost career mapping session to know how to ace the admission tests and interviews of Azim Premji University Masters 2020