B.A Hons. – Social Sciences & Policy

Jindal School of Government & Public Policy (JSGP)

OP Jindal Global University

BA (Hons) in Social Sciences and Policy [BA (Hons.) SSP] is unique and first of its kind interdisciplinary program in India, which provides the students with a solid ground in Social Science theories and their applications. The students will learn to use social sciences to solve the problems of society and the economy. They will acquire skills to develop models and tools and apply those in the field of public policy, development interventions, journalism, advocacy, communications, branding, and marketing research. The broad structure of the programme will impart the knowledge required to succeed in the civil service examinations. The core courses will help the students to gain conceptual clarity, and an array of electives will allow them to learn about the topics and social issues of their choice. The programme will offer exposure to real-world practices through internships, research, and capstone projects. The faculty members and industry specialists will extensively mentor all the students.

The BA (Hons.) SSP provides for core courses in sociology, political science, and economics along with skills courses. In line with the University’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity, it opens up opportunities for students to take elective courses outside, including foreign language courses and courses offered from other schools within the University. Students will be provided adequate guidance and mentoring to ensure that the method they choose is in line with their career plans. The core courses ensure intense disciplinary training, while skills courses prepare them for work or further education. Electives allow students to deepen their knowledge of thematic issues they are interested in. Instructors adopt unique tailor-made pedagogies that reflect global standards of education they have been exposed to, to ensure that students receive a holistic education, that is not restricted to the classroom but extends to student initiatives such as academic writing, participation in conferences, film clubs, management of events, etc. 

This course introduces the undergraduate students to the foundations of sociological thought through a focus on the works of three major thinkers viz., Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Weber. Other areas of subjects are Media and Society, Political Thinkers, Political Concepts, Indian Constitution and Democracy, Indian Politics, Governance & Institutions, Urban and Spatial Politics, Principles of Economics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Development& Inequality, Survey Research Design and Analysis, Indian economy, Public Policy and so on.

This course will introduce students to diverse forms of academic writing. Students will be guided in developing their writing skills, substantiating their arguments through the use of citations and referencing, and writing a bibliography. They will be provided with an introduction to basic research techniques and referencing software. This introductory course is designed to provide a good understanding as well as hands-on experience on both the basics and advanced capabilities of MS-Excel. Students will learn the basics of creating a worksheet, enter data, use formulas, format and edit worksheets, create graphs and charts, sort, save, and print a file. As part of advanced learning, students will learn the concept of linking various worksheets, create pivot tables, and basic usage of Macros. STATA is powerful statistical analysis software designed to provide both basic as well as advanced statistical analyses and also allows us numerous ways to manipulate and present data. Students will be introduced to some basic features of STATA (e.g., learning how to use a do-file, log-file), leading to efficient data management skills.