BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Preparing young Indians to grapple with critical challenges confronting India and the world
Is India’s GDP an adequate measure of our society’s progress? Is per capita income adequate to capture individual well-being? What other ways can we measure and capture Indians’ and India’s progress?
How did Indian democracy emerge? In what ways can we understand and improve the successes and failures of Indian democracy?
How do emerging economies such as India grapple with the demands of growth and looming environmental crises?
In an age of automation and Artificial Intelligence, what is the nature and centrality of work in people’s lives? Can we envision a world without work?
These are some of the crucial challenges confronting India and the world. These questions can be best understood and grappled with through an interdisciplinary study of Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics.
The BA Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) programme at Azim Premji University aims to prepare young Indians to grapple with critical challenges confronting India and the world. It aims to give students the necessary disciplinary grounding in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and enable them to effectively combine disciplinary knowledge to address pressing societal issues in a truly interdisciplinary way.
Who Should Join Us ?
Join us, at Azim Premji University, to build your ability to
- explain the varied social structures and processes, building on domain knowledge of Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics.
- reason critically, read, interpret and analyse different kinds of texts and evidence, including statistical and economic data, legal and policy documents, among others.
- find and communicate creative solutions to challenges confronting India, with an ethical foundation geared towards addressing challenges of representation and exclusion.
Why study with us?
We offer Interdisciplinary Openness
Our programmes encourage you to explore and follow your interests. We design our courses to ensure that you can specialise in a subject of your choice while learning various subjects across disciplines.
A Common Curriculum for all students
You will meet all your classmates at the beginning of your course to build all the tools you need for your four years of study. This includes foundational courses, an understanding of India, interdisciplinary studies, and courses in creative expressions.
We provide Academic Assistance
Our consistent academic assistance through language support, peer tutoring, faculty mentorship etc ensures that you meet the programme’s academic requirements.
We ensure Financial Support
We extend need-based financial assistance to students that cover tuition and accommodation expenses.
Programme Structure
Course Structure
The programme consists of 9 Core Courses, 3 Elective Courses from a range of electives, and compulsory courses from the Undergraduate Common Curriculum.
The Common Curriculum will introduce students to the study of the themes and areas that emphasise and build critical and analytical abilities, and sensibilities for dialogue, reflection and cooperative learning. The Common Curriculum has three sub-components organised as below:
Foundations: Build capacity for critical thinking, reasoning and communication.
Understanding India: India’s history, society and possible future.
Creative Expressions
As an essential component of the core curriculum, Creative Expressions courses utilise artistic mediums, sports, and embodied learning to cultivate creativity, foster social cohesion, and build resilience. Encouraging students to take risks in unfamiliar disciplines, these courses nurture curiosity, self-discovery, and overall well-being. Through Creative Expressions, students are empowered to participate with meaningful social connection, fostering a community of active and responsible citizens.
The Core Courses are designed to equip students with domain knowledge in Philosophy, Political Science and Economics. These include:
Introduction to PPE: the course introduces students to theories and methods used by Philosophers, Social Scientists and Economists and how these theories and methods complement each other to pursue fruitful inter-disciplinary research.
Key Concepts in Social Sciences: the course introduces students to basic conceptual vocabulary of Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics, which enables students to better engage with subsequent courses in the curriculum.
Ethics: the course navigates between everyday moral situations to abstract moral principles that can potentially guide our reasoning in such situations. The course quips students to develop tools to evaluate morally complex situations and potentially arrive at a resolution.
Introduction to Economics I: First of two courses, the course will introduce students to foundational concepts in Microeconomics and Political Economy through historical and contemporary examples and data.
Political Philosophy: the course aims to acquaint students with major political philosophical positions that underpin the Indian constitutional framework. The course will be rooted in studying landmark constitutional cases in India and discussing the implicated philosophical ideas.
Introduction to Economics II: Second of two courses, the course will introduce students to basic macroeconomic concepts and theories. Allows students to engage with real world issues like inequality, unemployment and ecological challenges.
Power and Agency: This course, on social thought, introduces students to key thinkers focusing on questions relating to ideology, social power and social control, individual agency and domination.
Power and Politics in Contemporary Society: This course introduces students to key ideas, processes and outcomes that shape contemporary Indian politics. The course draws on multiple disciplines including political science, sociology and anthropology, and engages with popular writings on Indian politics alongside scholarly work.
Work: This course explores the philosophical, political and economic dimensions of work, with attention to the historical transformation of work from industrial labour to service economy and care work.
Students must be prepared for the world of work at the end of the programme should they choose to enter it. We aim to provide the required skills and competencies for this through a Minor featuring courses in an Occupational or Interdisciplinary theme. These sets of courses are aimed to provide both conceptual understanding and skills and tools that will allow students to contribute through work and further study.
Students can opt for a Minor in any one of the indicative areas listed below:
- Education
- Media and Journalism
- Data and Democracy
- Sports and Fitness
- Climate Studies
- Arts Education
The selection of these indicative areas is based on the availability of courses and our evaluation of the student’s interests and academic needs. For each cohort, a final list of available courses will be announced at the end of their second semester.
Students can craft their own educational experience by selecting courses in the following ways:
- Students will have the option to take additional courses in their Disciplinary Major.
- Interdisciplinary Minor that will enable them for their further higher studies or career pathways.
These courses could also be selected to enhance and broaden their
- Language skills and Quantitative reasoning capacities/programming skills.
- Understanding of themes outside their Major subject.
Careers
The BA Philosophy, Politics, Economics programme equips students to pursue wide-ranging careers that are aimed at providing solutions to India’s social challenges. Students will be well placed to work across a range of sectors including:
- Government and Public Policy sector
- Consulting and Financial Services
- Advertising, Marketing, Journalism
- NGO and Charities
- Research and Academia
