The Department of Public Administration, Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh in collaboration with Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi organized a one-day academic interaction with the participants of Winter School on Teaching, Didactics and Research Methods’  as a part of the Winter Academy 2015 titled ‘Strengthening of Public Administration education in Afghanistan’ and “Enhancing Management, Academic and Techical Skills: Developing an Afghan Core of Strategy for Employability and Faculty Development”. The Winter School was a joint venture of Potsdam Centre for Policy Management, University of Potsdam, Germany, GIZ and IIPA, New Delhi. Under this programme, dean and teachers of public administration and officials from Afghanistan and Germany participated in the programme.

In the Inaugural session, Prof. B.S. Ghuman while welcoming the participants of the Winter School stated that the aim of today’s programme is to provide participants with in-depth knowledge in governance issues, teaching pedagogy and basis of research methodology. He further emphasized on having academic collaborations between universities of Afghanistan and India particularly PU.

Punjab Governance Reforms Commission and Director, IDC, Chairperson, Prof. Pramod Kumar in his inaugural address spoke on various aspects of governance and problems in conflict areas. He is of the view that there is a need to interlink the global needs with local needs. He also emphasized on the relevance of peace in society and elaborated that peace does not mean absence of violence but absence of conditions promoting violence. He stressed on the lack of trust between the State and citizens and called for Citizen-Centre governance.

PU, Dean Faculty of Arts, Prof. Ronki Ram  in his keynote address dwelled upon the importance of reforms in higher education and how higher education system in Afghanistan can learn from reforms in Indian system of higher education. He opined that for making universities globally competitive, it is important to provide substantive autonomy to institutes of higher learning instead of just procedural autonomy.

In his presidential remarks, Former Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab and Former Chief Information Commissioner, Punjab Sh. Ramesh Inder Singh (IAS, retd) stressed on evolving new institutional mechanisms, processes and procedures along with desired change in behavior, culture and mindset to deal with present challenges of socio-economic development. Dr, Sheela Reddy, IIPA, New Delhi proposed the vote of thanks.

The inaugural session was followed by three technical sessions. During these sessions, Professor B.S. Ghuman, Professor Ramanjit Kaur Johal and Dr. Navreet addressed the participants  on steps involved in academic writing; curriculum, credit system and quality assurance in higher education; and faculty structure of the Department of Public Administration with special reference to Panjab University, Chandigarh respectively.

PU, Vice-Chancellor, Prof Arun Kumar Grover presided over the concluding session of the one-day winter school. In his presidential address, he traced the roots of higher education in India to eminent ancient Universities of Nalanda and Takhshila. He stressed on the link between education with Public Administration. He also highlighted the position of Panjab University in the North Western part of the Indian Subcontinent. Professor Suzzane Griffin, Head of the Project shared her experiences of today’s programme, challenges of teaching and pedagogy of Public Administration in Afghanistan. In the concluding session, Dr. Bharati Garg presented the report of the day’s proceedings. Professor Ramanjit Kaur Johal, Dean International Students proposed the vote of thanks.

It provided the participants with an insight into higher education teaching experiences of Public Administration in India.