The Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies (ADCPS) at IIT Bombay is an independent academic center of the Institute.

ADCPS envisions myriad ways in which its PhD and MPP programmes and graduates from these programmes can contribute to IIT Bombay’s intellectual diversity as well as to India’s polity and society. The aim is to produce professionals or academics who seek to serve the public interest. These academic programmes will reflect the changing dynamics in today’s world and the need for policy to keep pace with technological advancements, process of globalization, and increasingly nuanced and complex public debates about governance. Policy can no longer be contained within the realm of government and bureaucracy; it has to draw upon the civil society, academic institutions, and the private sector. Finally, ADCPS aims to capitalize on IIT Bombay’s existing institutional strengths and build a center that can be a hub for public policy research and expertise. ADCPS’s academic programmes integrate public policy, social sciences, and technology.

The Masters in Public Policy (MPP) Programme at ADCPS has been designed to cater to a wide audience. By balancing theory and practice, quantitative and qualitative research methodology, and classroom learning with hands-on exposure, MPP graduates can go on to pursue careers in government, academia, research, advocacy, or as experts in a specific area of policy.

The two-year programme is divided into two parts. During the first two semesters, the focus is on classroom courses. This includes compulsory core courses that cover Public Policy Theory, Public Policy in India, and Research Methodology and Design. Additionally, students are expected to specialise in one of the areas of public policy offered by ADCPS, as well as choose elective courses relevant to their research. Details of the course structure can be found below.

MPP students are also expected to complete an eight-week internship at a relevant policy organisation. Semesters III and IV are dedicated to completing a research thesis or working on a project (i.e. one thesis/ project in Semester III and one thesis/ project in Semester IV).