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CPS M.A. programme

CPS M.A. programme

The Centre for Political Studies at present admits around 110 students (excluding direct foreign admissions) to the M.A. programme each year. The M.A. programme is a four semester programme.

The students are required to earn 64 credits (14 courses with each course of 4 credits) to be eligible for Master's degree. Out of these 64 credits, minimum 40 credits must be earned from 10 compulsory courses. Remaining credits must be earned from optional courses. The students are required to do at least two optional courses offered by the Centre.

The ten compulsory courses and other optional courses are defined around following broad rubrics:

(1) Political Theory and Philosophy

(2) Indian Government and Politics

(3) Comparative Politics

(4) International Relations

(5) Research Methods

The list of courses that the Centre offers in each semester is updated in the beginning of every semester on the website and Centre's notice board.

Under the semester system followed in the University, students are required to register at the beginning of each semester for the courses, that they wish to offer in that particular semester. The Centre may appoint a faculty adviser for each student who advises each student on the courses to be taken. No student is allowed to attend a course without registration and is also not entitled to any credits unless he/she has been formally registered for the course by the scheduled date.

Within the M.A. programme, four of the ten compulsory courses belong to the stream of Indian Politics and cover a wide canvas, ranging from modern Indian political thought, development policy, political institutions to political processes, and public policies. The large majority of optional courses also belong to this stream, and provide students with the opportunity for a more intensive study of political parties, pressure groups, regional politics, social movements, centre-state relations, development policy and administration.

The compulsory courses on political theory  revolve around a body of concepts and themes. In Methods in Social Science, the field work component is seen as necessary so that students are exposed to a systematic and critical exploration of empirical reality. Courses in comparative politics and international relations provide remaining part of the M.A. syllabus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.