Shiv Nadar University Launches a Unique, Cutting-edge Multidisciplinary Postgraduate Programme in Water Science and Policy

NOIDA, India, May 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Shiv Nadar University today announced a new multidisciplinary postgraduate programme in Water Science and Policy. This unique, path breaking initiative will admit the most talented students and young researchers from India and abroad, to a two-year MSc. in Water Science and Policy at the University, commencing in August 2017. Simultaneously, this innovative, theory and practice-based programme will offer a Postgraduate Diploma and diverse Certificate courses, widening learning opportunities for mid-career professionals, administrators, industrial engineers and managers, and development activists working for change in the water sector. In this regard, the Programme, which is a flagship initiative of the Shiv Nadar University's Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory (CPACT), is the first-of-its-kind, nationally and globally.

The University's Programme in Water Science and Policy is a high-level response to the urgent need for rigorous, creative, multidisciplinary and practice-based training in water education in India today. It seeks to address the critical gap, identified by the Hon'ble Prime Minister, and acknowledged by NITI Aayog, of qualified professionals needed on ground to manage the significant challenges of reforming India's water sector. The Programme is; therefore, focused on teaching practical, cutting-edge 21^st century solutions, aiming to create a network of water professionals, with both the multidisciplinary perspectives and skills required to solve India's most pressing water problems. Over time, it is hoped that this will also translate in to solutions for other countries in South Asia and beyond.

This pedagogically innovative programme has been designed and will be developed under the leadership of Dr. Mihir Shah, one of India's foremost experts in water policy and practice. Dr. Shah brings decades of extraordinary experience and commitment to the University as its distinguished visiting professor. Here, he leads a specially-constituted Advisory Group comprising eminent water experts from across the country, including Professor Rajiv Sinha, IIT Kanpur; Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, Advanced Centre for Water Resource Development and Management (ACWADAM); and Shri P. S. Vijayshankar, Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS), along with faculty from across departments within the University.

Shiv Nadar University's Programme in Water Science and Policy will draw together the foremost researchers and practitioners from across the country, and in some cases, as appropriate, from across the globe. Its scope and ambition reflects the complexity and multidimensionality of water as a substance and subject, encompassing modules on the water cycle and river systems, watersheds and watershed management, aquifers and groundwater resources, participatory irrigation management, ecosystem services of water, historical, social, institutional and legal dimensions, conflict and social exclusion, urban and industrial water, water policy, and field-based learning and opportunities for original research across diverse sites.

National faculty is being drawn from IIT Kanpur; IIT Mumbai; IIT Gandhinagar; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee; Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi; International Water Management Institute; Water Resources Group 2030; Central Ground Water Board; Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi; Azim Premji University, Bangalore; Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai; Development Support Centre, Ahmedabad; and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal. In addition, faculty from UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands; Centre for Water, Agroecology and Resilience, Coventry, UK; SOAS, London, UK; DTU Nutech, Technical University of Denmark, Risø, Denmark; ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, Canberra, Australia; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden; and Law, Environment and Development Centre, University of London have already confirmed their participation in the programme.

A high-level inception workshop was held to officially launch the Programme on April 28-29, 2017 at the Shiv Nadar University campus and at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The Workshop brought together key faculty and leading experts from the water sector, with special participation from representatives from numerous State Governments. The University was honored to host Shri Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India and Dr. Amarjit Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India to address the Workshop participants during the Valedictory Session, held on 29 April 2017.

The new Programme in Water Science and Policy reflects Shiv Nadar University's fundamental long-term commitment towards building a global research university, where the convergence of excellence in knowledge and the relevance to development and environmental policy is fully and tangibly realized and sustained. Through this initiative the University seeks to contribute to the creation of a critical pool and dynamic network of professionals, and partner organizations across academia, government, industry and the civic space with the interdisciplinary analytical skills, as well as the policy research and implementation capacities necessary to address, reorient and resolve the multiple challenges in understanding and governing water in India and internationally.

In doing so, the University furthers its national and global commitment towards repositioning the value of education in this era of global ecological crises, and seeks to reframe the relationship between water knowledge and policy, in order to realize the larger planetary and human development goals of sustainability, prosperity and well-being.

The Programme will open admissions in the first week of May 2017 and commence in August 2017.

About Shiv Nadar University  

Shiv Nadar University is a multi-disciplinary, student-centric research-focused university offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. SNU's integrated multi-disciplinary undergraduate curriculum provides students a strong foundation in the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, technology and engineering studies, arts and communication and management, while enabling them to gain mastery of a subject of their choosing. Taught by world-class faculty, undergraduate education at SNU is designed to develop students with the breadth of vision, knowledge, skills and attitudes required to succeed in the careers of the 21st century.  SNU is an institution set up and funded by the Shiv Nadar Foundation.   

About Shiv Nadar Foundation

The Shiv Nadar Foundation (http://www.ShivNadarFoundation.org) has been established by Shiv Nadar, Founder, HCL - a $7 billion leading technology and healthcare enterprise. The Foundation's mission is to contribute to the process of national development and social transformation by establishing institutions and undertaking new initiatives in the fields of education and culture.  The Foundation is committed to the creation of a more equitable, merit-based society by empowering individuals to bridge the socio-economic divide through philanthropy based transformational education.

The Foundation set up the SSN Institutions (http://www.SSN.edu.in) in 1996, comprising the SSN College of Engineering (already a highly-ranked private engineering college in India), in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Foundation has also set up VidyaGyan, a residential leadership academy for meritorious rural children, at Bulandshahr and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh. In addition, the Foundation runs the Shiv Nadar University (http://www.snu.edu.in), an international multi-disciplinary university with strong research orientation located in Greater Noida in India's National Capital Region and the Shiv Nadar School (http://www.shivnadarschool.edu.in), a network of progressive urban schools across India aimed to provide children with education that creates lifelong learners. The Foundation has also set up the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (http://www.knma.in ), India's largest private philanthropic museum in modern and contemporary art with the vision to take art to the common public.