Monday, February 10, 2014

Knowledge is Great

http://knowledgeisgreat.in/

I  have   a very  typical  Degree  combination.  A BE plus MBA. Thoroughly hating my   four  years of  technical education , in a  very herd mentality  I  was  swept  up in doing an MBA  degree.  It  worked  out  fortunately slightly better  and  like  most if not all MBA  graduates I  was in a  world  of  targets, sales,  pitch presentations and  more targets.  After  a three  year  stint  in a marketing firm  , I was  slightly  bored  and  very restless. 

I  wanted, nay needed to  do something  different. and probably the Gods  were listening. someone  spoke  to me about  a  Government of India  project.They  were  hiring  on a   contractual  basis, but it was to be  a great learning  opportunity. Sick  of being away  from home, I just  jumped  at the  chance,  and  bag  and baggage in tow  moved  back  to my city, Delhi.

so  what  do I  exactly  do?  I work on a  world  bank assisted  program for improving technical education  quality in India. sounds ironical? Sure does. I did   hate my technical  education after  all. But the  good thing it  gives  me  an  unique  perspective into   an average  20 year  old  engineers  to be's  life. It gives  me  a  chance  to  brainstorm  with them,  figure out  the obstacles  in their  learning  (  which  vary from language  skills to  just  plain bad  teachers.)  


More  good  things? I  sit  with my  team members  and  hash out parts of the project  implementation plan. We  decide  the policy and  rules. and  work  and  rework it.. Then  we  organized  learning   foras  for the  top academicians of our  country. we  sit  with them  and  learnt  new  things  together.  As  a  28  year old ,  the presence of  professors  and deans  who  have  more than  28 years  of  experience, the effect  is  sobering. you  realize the way  great  minds  think. but it is  also  exhilarating and the only thing  then is  to  sit there like  a  sponge. hoping  to  absorb  every nugget  of information. every  view point and   the  counter point.



So  do I love  what I  do? Absolutely. Do I want to  do it more?  Oh Yes.

What  would  I  do?

Pick a  course like Master of Public Policy(MPP)  , a  flagship  degree of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University. A one year international graduate education for those wishing to lead in public service, whether in the public, private, non-governmental or social sector.



The core curriculum ranges across the social sciences, science, and the humanities and  students specialize in options and undertaking a Summer Project. Short intensive modules focus on policy skills in strategy, communications, negotiation, delivery, management, budgeting and finance. Students also attend a suite of practical sessions that aim to equip them with the key transferable skills required to work successfully in public policy.And
And  learn to address some of the most significant challenges of government.

Why this  course?

The website  says:
The Blavatnik School of Government aims to prepare students for leadership in government or in the pursuit of the public interest, whether in government, non-governmental organisations or the private sector.
Visiting careers speakers to the School include:
  • Osama Rahman, Chief Economist, Ministry of Justice
  • Chris Underhill, Founder, BasicNeeds
  • Sharath Jeevan, Founder and CEO, STiR Education
Studying  with a  global  profile of  students, learning ,  discovering,  tackling new  approaches  to  complex  problem  and  most importantly,  bringing about  a  change through  public policy.
I could  not have hoped  for anything better.






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