The Xavier School of Management (XLRI) inaugurated the Centre for Public Policy and Public Affairs (XLCP) on February 25, 2022, in an online event. The guest speaker on the occasion was Professor Benjamin M. Friedman, a globally renowned American economist, and the William Joseph Maier Professor of 
Political Economy at Harvard University. His lecture titled, “Why Study for a Career in Public Policy” was attended by a large virtual audience and set the stage for a deep interest in the programmes of the Centre in administration, leadership and public policy. The Centre will be located in XLRI’s Delhi campus and work closely with collaborators and partners across the country.
The Director of XLRI, Fr. Paul Fernandes, expressed his delight at the opening of the Centre and stated, “At this juncture of our history, there is a deep need for training in principled and effective public leadership and policy for future generations of scholars and practitioners. We need more creativity in the process of public decision-making, be it dealing with political pressures, an increasingly technological driven world, shifting demographics, environmental challenges and a host of other pressing issues of our times. The recent pandemic has taught us to be prepared for catastrophic and unforeseen events that can disrupt our lives in a moment, and yet bind us together as one world. At XLCP, we will endeavor to train leaders who will strive to frame policies and lead organizations with a strong sense of ethics and integrity and set examples of building resilience in an uncertain world with great certitude. I am happy to have a strong team that will build the Centre as a hub of innovation and excellence in the hope of creating a better world for our collective future.”
XLCP will be led by Shobhana Rana, a Harvard alumna and conflict resolutions specialist, who has over two decades of experience in public policy as a practitioner and teacher. She has worked in the public and private sector, in all major conflict hotspots around the world, and in policymaking roles headquartered in New York City and Washington DC. She has also advised governments and private sector enterprises on governance and policy in India and overseas.
The Centre for Policy (XLCP) is a hub of cutting-edge ideas on areas as vast as corporate governance, conflict management and mediation, building effective public-private partnerships and public leadership. It brings together scholars and practitioners to engage in dialogue that impacts our world and helps in creating workable solutions to the policy questions of our current times.
