Study of public policy has gradually received attention within the academic spheres of Pakistan. The size of training, educational and research establishments and universities, offering such programs has, therefore, steadily grown. Despite these developments, the outcome still fails to measure up to the multidimensional demands for policy experts. Rapid population growth, complexity of challenges facing statecraft, and lack of requisite endowment and skills with concerned departments, agencies and organizations aggravate the situation further. The civil society and sections of the public demand access to structured knowledge that could inform policy processes, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Meanwhile, operations by domestic as well international think tanks, humanitarian organizations, aid and development agencies have expanded in Pakistan, that profess to build and strengthen partnership-based interventions with the government, communities, social institutions and civil society organizations. Many of these, including but not limited to, Asian Development Bank, USAID, AUSAID, DFID, CIDA, JICA, UNDP, ICRC, UNHCR and also local NGOs, are offering professional programs, consulting jobs, and scholarships for advanced studies. They are hiring professional staff for their national and international headquarters, outsourcing research, evaluation, liaison and communication tasking, etc. This has diversified the job market that now encompasses a broad range of opportunities for an appropriately equipped work force.
The niche provided by emerging demand as against a scarce supply situation has warranted innovative academic leaders like the UMT to renew its commitment to leading and learning for the larger good of the state and society by announcing the launch of MS in Public Policy.
