Azim Premji University

History

Azim Premji University was established by the Azim Premji Foundation (APF). APF is a non-profit organization focused on primary education. The University was founded as one of the key responses to the constraints and challenges that the Foundation encountered both within and in the environment, and as part of a larger strategy to contribute to the Education and Development sectors in the country. The university was granted its charter by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly through The Azim Premji University Act of 2010.

The degree programmes offered are aimed at socially committed students. The university began with the launch of two post-graduate programmes: Master of Arts in Education and Master of Arts in Development with a few specializations.

The first academic session started in August 2011. The first batch of 86 students who joined in July 2011 completed their two-year program in May 2013. The university held its first convocation ceremony on 1 October 2013 at Bangalore. The governor of Karnataka, Hans Raj Bhardwaj, who is the Visitor of the University and Azim Premji, chancellor of the university, presented degrees to the first batch.

The university student strength rose to 260 in the third batch inducted in July 2013. There were nearly 400 students in the two Masters programs and more than 120 faculty and staff in 2013. Nearly 50% of students were from rural areas and small towns of India, across 20 states.

Campus

Azim Premji University began its operations from an interim campus on the premises of P.E.S. School of Engineering on Hosur Road in Bangalore. The university operates on leased premises of over 1 lakh square feet.

A permanent campus for the university is being developed on Sarjapur Road on the outskirts of Bangalore. The new 80-acre campus will cater to a community of 3500, with staff and student residences.

Academics

Azim Premji University offers post-graduate programs in education, development and public policy & governance. From the year 2015, undergraduate courses for students have also been started.

The university has identified teacher education and undergraduate programmes (undergraduate courses for the 2015-17 batch) as a key requirement in India and is preparing to offer undergraduate and Integrated Teacher Education/Masters Programs from the academic year 2015. With these new courses and programs, the university envisages around 800 students by 2014 and around 3000 students by 2017.

Schools and Centers

The University is organized into 5 schools and a University wide Research centre.

The five schools are:

School of Education

Education in its broadest terms is often seen as an endeavour directed at the flourishing of humankind. It is a deliberate initiation into human ways of thinking and knowing, of feeling and of doing. Varying viewpoints about education have found their assertions in a diverse society like India. While one viewpoint positions education as an endeavour towards social justice, another visualizes it as a tool of economic progress

Attempts to improve public education in India depend for their success on the availability of highly capable and committed personnel in substantial numbers. There is a dire need for people (fresh and current practitioners) who can understand education and can assume a variety of responsibilities ranging from classroom teaching to policy formulation to theoretical or conceptual analyses in education.

The School of Education at the Azim Premji University is the broad umbrella under which all its work in the education domain will unfold. The School of Education focuses on the following:

1. Develop and offer M.A. in Education programme and contribute towards development and teaching of other programmes and courses in education.
2. Foster research excellence in these fields by undertaking empirically grounded and methodologically rigorous studies.
3. Critically contribute to the continuing education efforts of the University, through active engagement in capacity enhancement of professionals from the Government and other non-governmental organizations.
4. Support and enable the work of the other schools within the University through the design and delivery of interdisciplinary courses.
5. Undertake key initiatives within specific areas of education that seek to enhance our understanding of education and bring together a network of academics, practitioners and other stakeholders.

Programmes

The School of Education currently offers an M.A. in Education Programme. The Programme is offered as a general programme or as a programme that permits students to pursue specific interests and develop expertise in a chosen area while drawing upon concepts, perspectives and skills developed in the core courses.

Students interested in a specialization area, by the beginning of their third semester, choose electives from a set of courses within the specialization areas on offer. Of the twenty-six credits that students need to obtain from elective courses, they are required to obtain a minimum of eighteen credits from courses within the specialization area. A specialization may specify compulsory pre-requisite courses. In addition, specializations will require students to do their third semester six credit field practice over and above the taught courses in that area.

Currently the M.A. Education programme offers three specializations:

School of Policy and Governance

The School of Policy and Governance is committed to creating a leading centre for multi-disciplinary research and scholarship in the area of law, governance and public policy. It seeks to advance the vision of Azim Premji University by designing and delivering new academic programmes and generating new and relevant knowledge through research in the fields of law, public policy and governance. It also seeks to intervene in development practice through direct engagement and advocacy with the state and other actors in society.

Law

In a variety of contexts, substantive law and legal institutions have been seen as vital components of the development process. The actual mechanisms by which the law and legal institutions influence development outcomes have however been the subject of intense academic debate over the years. The School of Policy and Governance (SPG) is engaged in the fine grained analysis of the Indian Legal System in order to assess its potential to help or hinder the country's pursuit of development outcomes. On the one hand, this consists of the quantitative analysis of the performance of instrumentalities in the legal system. Some examples of these are formal courts, institutions of alternate dispute resolution and the civil and criminal processes. On the other hand, this consists of a careful exposition of the relationship between Law and Society in India. The study of the theoretical, historical and empirical aspects of this relationship is vital to an understanding of the mechanisms through which changes in the legal system affect the lives of ordinary people in the country.

Public Policy

Public Policy broadly demarcates the intellectual terrain in which the government and other public institutions operate. Multiple actors are now responsible for service delivery and governance in development, challenging theories of Public Administration that focus on the bureaucracy and have mostly originated from the experience of developed countries. The challenge therefore is to problematize, and teach, theories and skills that animate this dynamic institutional space.

Governance

With the belated recognition of the role and significance of institutions, questions such as what institutions are, how they work and how they shape political and administrative actions and outcomes have become important. India has an elaborate system of public administration. These systems while playing an enabling role also impose major constraints on the process and potential of development. The reform of public administration has been the focus of people's movements in the last decade. This programme encompasses the theoretical foundations and practical realities of India's governance on three specific but overlapping axes: capacity, equity and accountability.

Programmes

In coordination with the School of Development, the School of Policy and Governance conducts the following specializations programmes for their MA in Development:

School of Development

Development, broadly construed, refers to the range of interventions that purport to advance and secure individual and social well-being in a sustainable and equitable manner. Any attempt to explain development must contend with the plurality of conceptions of human well-being.

India continues to have serious development challenges: for example, after more than six decades of independence, India has an unacceptably high percentage of its population living in absolute poverty and alarmingly high levels of infant mortality and malnutrition. These statistics emphasize the moral necessity for state and non-state sectors to renew their engagement with the challenges of development in constructive ways.

A robust engagement with this domain needs a large number of persons with varied backgrounds, capacities and interests and an ethical outlook that provide inspiration for development action. The Azim Premji University intends to contribute, through its educational programmes, to the knowledge and practice of and reflection on development in India. We recognize that development is not a unitary discipline but an integrative field that brings together understandings from the social and behavioural sciences, the humanities, science/ technology, within a framework of analysis, policy and institutional action.

The School of Development focuses on the following:

Key Areas of Work

Health and Nutrition

Issues in health, health care and nutrition have long been addressed through narrow bio medical and techno-managerial lens. Driven by a technical logic, such a lens fails to address some of the complex challenges India is facing today around health inequities, implementation challenges of health and nutrition programs and persistent malnutrition. The Health, Nutrition and Development work at the University aims to offer a broader and integrated understanding of health by locating it within the larger development narrative and by necessarily engaging with multiple perspectives, approaches and methods. The initiative, consisting of a multi-disciplinary faculty, focuses on the creation of new and relevant knowledge through a series of teaching and research activities based at the University.

Sustainability

As we envision a path towards sustainable development we are confronted with an array of complex socio-environmental challenges, ranging from rapid urbanization, unfettered economic growth, threats to public health, malnutrition and poverty, to growing fresh water scarcity, waste-management woes, unsustainable agriculture, biodiversity loss, deforestation and climate change. Development that aims at securing social wellbeing in all its plurality is largely dependent on the health of natural systems. The nature and complexity of the challenges indicate that the solutions have to be inclusive, sustainable. Many current discourses are polarized between extreme visions of industrialized society co-dependent on relentless economic growth, or of returning to a wilderness driven by deep ecology.

It is imperative that coherent personal and collective responses are urgently explored and that such an exploration becomes part of any sensitive educational endeavour. The sustainability work at the university will have a three-fold vision for its students. Firstly it will enable students to understand and engage with the national and global debates on sustainable development. Secondly, it will empower students to locate their role in development through a perspective of sustainability that includes the inter-relationships between Nature, Society and Economy. Thirdly, it will provide students the means to gain depth and breadth in sustainability across three broad cognitive areas, such as: theoretical and conceptual understanding, inter-disciplinary methods and analytical skills, and the frameworks for effective policy and governance including management.

Livelihoods

The growing public acknowledgment about the inability of national economies to generate gainful employment, let alone a dignified life for all, especially the poor, marginalized and vulnerable – require a reshaping of approaches to development. While issues of employment, decent work, just remuneration, income generation, livelihoods transition, the dignity of work, and sustainable livelihoods are central to development, they constitute a distinct area of knowledge, theorization, and intervention.

As such, the Livelihoods Specialization would locate the understanding of "livelihoods" within the larger historical, socio-cultural, ecological, political-economic and legal-institutional frameworks and then proceed to address contemporary processes of socio-economic transformation such as globalization of production and trade, agrarian transformation, development-induced displacement, urbanization, de-regulation and informalisation of labour, feminization of poverty, and the ways in which these (re)structure and transform work, employment and livelihoods and the social ways of life based upon them.

The specialization will enable students to engage in action and interventions in areas related to poverty reduction /alleviation, livelihood security and diversification, financial inclusion, migration and work, labour standards and labour regulation, resource crises and livelihoods, technological change and skills development, by providing them

Programmes

The School is working on the following Programmes to be offered soon:

School of Liberal Studies

The School of Liberal Studies at Azim Premji University aims at developing and conducting programmes that will help redefine the Undergraduate learning experience and Teacher Education in India.

The School will:

1. Develop and offer an Undergraduate programme in the Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences
2. Develop and offer integrated Teacher Education programmes
3. Prepare students to become active, self-directed learners with capacities for critical understanding and thinking.
4. Build a diverse student community, moderating the role of social and economic disadvantage in determining access and outcomes.
5. Bring together students, faculty and mentors to create a vibrant community of learners

Education should strive for both personal accomplishment of students in areas of interest and meaningful public engagement. We believe that an education that encourages these will lead to flourishing of individuals and the society at large. This is potentially a creative and often disruptive process that happens not in individual isolation but in dialogue with a community of learners that includes faculty and peers. Such a community, in the Indian context, is not there for the asking but has to be nurtured and built.

Programmes

Three-year, full-time, residential Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degrees are offered in the following specializations:

Students also have the choice of selecting from several minors including Physics, Biology, Economics, Development Studies, Education Studies and Data Sciences. For example, a student may choose to take up Physics as a major and Data Science as a minor or Economics as a major and Biology as a minor. Students can also opt for an Honours degree through advanced research projects.

School of Continuing Education & University Resource Centre

In-service programmes have a direct impact in enhancing the capacity of practicing professionals. Given that their work deals with very complex issues, the need for high quality and effective programmes is evident. This need cuts across perspective building, specific areas within their domains and also in general areas like communication, project management etc. They believe they are in a unique position to deliver these:

The School of Continuing Education and University Resource Centre is responsible for the design and conduct of all in service programmes. They do this in active collaboration with the other schools, field institutes and other partner institutions. School also works in the area of assessment in Education and offers frameworks and tools for student assessment, institutional assessment and assessment of personnel.

To date, we have designed and conducted more than hundred capacity enhancement programmes, largely for district/state level government functionaries

Create assessment framework with the intention to encourage self-assessment and self-development.

Programmes

The School has designed and conducted more than hundred programmes over the past few years. Most of these programs have been customised programs designed in line with the needs of the participants, and in collaboration with the governments, our field institutions, external experts and University faculty. Some of the key programmes designed and delivered recently include:

Library

The library, which spans over 8000 sq. ft area, has a collection of over 27,633 books and more than 150 print and online journals. The modern IT infrastructure in the library allows students and researchers to access to its catalog and e-resources through WiFi technology. The library has a comprehensive collection of print, digital and media resources on education, philosophy, psychology, sociology, development studies, law, political science, health and public policy. Online resources such as Ebsco, JSTOR, Manupatra, Questia, Sage and World Bank eLibrary are provided for the teaching and research staff.

Admission process

Fees and scholarship

PG programme: In 2015, the tuition fee has been structured at Rs. 53000/- per annum, which is in line with many similar state-run educational institutions.

UG Programme: In 2015, the tuition fee has been structured at Rs. 1,00,000/- per annum.

The university extends some scholarships to help students cover their fees. The scholarships may cover part of the tuition and student accommodation related boarding and lodging expenses or sometimes even the entire expenses.

In addition to scholarships, the university offers loan repayment support for students who take up careers in the social sector or pursue higher education in related domains, and contribute through teaching, research or field engagement. This support is provided to students in forms such as interest waiver or subsidy, and part reimbursement of the loan. For the selected students, the university works out the procedure for such support on a case-by-case basis during the admission process. The university helps arrange concessional education loans for students as well.

Faculty

The university has a faculty group of over 100 in varied disciplines and fields including Education, Development, Science, Social Science & the Humanities. More than 60% of the faculty have doctoral degrees in relevant domains. The student-faculty ratio is 10:1. It has some of the well-known scientists, researchers, educationalists, philosophers, writers, economists and many more famous personalities as its faculty.

Research and partnerships

Azim Premji University is engaged in research projects and has conducted more than 30 capacity-enhancement programs in education perspectives, leadership and academics for government functionaries. It has Memoranda of Understanding with national and state capacity development institutions such as Administrative Training Institute, Mysore and National Institute of Administrative Research (NIAR) to develop capacity enhancement frameworks for government functionaries in leadership positions. The university has also partnered with Michigan State University and (INET) to train education experts and, ultimately, improve India’s vast, struggling school system and to create strategies for development that have proven successful in promoting equitable growth and reducing poverty.

Vibrant academic discourse

Since its inception, the university has conducted international seminars in the area of Philosophy of Education, and Law, Governance and Development. The first international seminar was held in January 2013. The second international seminar on Philosophy of Education was scheduled for May 2014. University has also hosted lot of public seminars, some which were given by Billionaire investor George Soros, Historian Ramchandra Guha, Economist Sanjeev Reddy and etc.

Azim Premji University has partnered with Institute of New Economic Thinking (INET) and has conducted summer and winter advanced graduate workshops on development.