Madras School of Economics, Chennai

Within a relatively short time span, MSE, founded by highly- respected economist the late Raja J. Chelliah in 1993, has established a reputation which is almost on a par with the prestigious Delhi School of Economics

Sited in Kottur, an upscale suburb of the southern port city of Chennai (pop: 4.2 million), the aesthetically designed campus of the Madras School of Economics (MSE) with its grey stone buildings, charming arcades supported by stone pillars and lush ambience, has been constructed on a generous four-acre campus insu-lated from the din and bustle of the city.

Founded by the late Dr. Raja J. Chelliah, a highly-respected economist and public finance expert, MSE was registered as a charitable society in 1993 under the Societies Registration Act, 1975. A specialist school promoted to teach and research economics at the postgrad and doctoral levels, MSE admitted its first batch of 11 postgrad students in 2000. Currently it offers two postgrad programmes in general and financial economics and doctoral programmes to 110 students.

Promoted as a privately funded autonomous institution with a grant of Rs.3 crore from the Central government, MSE’s primary objective is to nurture high-quality economics research. MSE is backed by a consortium of renowned academics, eminent economists, prominent industrialists, and heads of well-known financial institutions. Among them: A.C. Muthiah, chairman and president, Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Ltd, Chennai; Dr. C. Rangarajan, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister; N. Vaghul, chairman of ICICI Bank, Mumbai.

Since then, over the past 15 years MSE has built itself an excellent reputation. In 2003, the school of economics was awarded the highest ‘A’ grade rating of the Bangalore-based National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), after it was designated a Centre of Excellence in environmental economics by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) in 2002. MSE also enjoys the unique status of being an official ENVIS (Environmental Information System) Centre for environ-mental economics, and also coordinates a programme on trade and environment to provide policy inputs to MoEF.

Consequently within a relatively short time span, MSE has established a reputation which is almost on a par with the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, offering postgrad study programmes which differ distinctly from the courses offered by the university system, because of a sharper focus on quantitative techniques. Therefore, a strong aptitude for mathematics and quantitative analysis is the prerequisite of admission into MSE.

Moreover, despite stringent state government regulations of admi-ssion which mandate 70 percent reservation of seats in favour of socio-economically backward classes/castes, the college has maintained excellent academic standards. Wholly funded by student fees (subsidised and approved by its affiliating Anna University), interest income from its endowment corpus (Rs.11 crore) contributed by corporate India and financial institu-tions, and research projects undertaken by the faculty, MSE delivers high quality education to 110 postgrad students mentored by 18 highly-qualified fulltime faculty and ten visiting professors from around the country and abroad.

“We believe that economics is a science which can be applied to resolve real world problems. Our faculty is not only committed to teaching but is simultaneously engaged in advanced research of burning issues including climate change, trade and environment. Clients for whom we undertake policy oriented research projects include the government of India, state governments and financial institutions among others. Thus far we have completed over 100 research projects valued at Rs.1.5-2 crore. We also encourage independent research by our students with the objective of producing thoroughly well-trained economists to meet the growing demand for them in public and private industry and universities,” says Dr. D. K. Srivastava, an alumnus of the University of Allahabad with a Masters (M.Lit) and Ph D in economic development awarded by the University of St. Andrews, UK. After serving in academia (Stanley Smith College, University of St. Andrews) and in senior positions with the Union government, Srivastava accepted the position of director of MSE in July 2005.

Coterminously over the past 15 years since it admitted its first batch of postgrad students, the school’s manage-ment has continuously expanded and upgraded MSE’s infrastructure with annual capex outlays ranging from Rs.10 lakh-1 crore. The school boasts a well-stocked library with 10,000 volumes, 8,000 journal subs-criptions, a digital library for online journal subscriptions, fully-wired campus with five air-conditioned classrooms, a computer lab with 35 terminals and a seminar and conference hall-cum-auditorium with a seating capacity of 90, in addition to separate hostels for male and women stud-ents. Though MSE does not boast impressive sports infrastructure, students are permitted to use the cricket, table tennis and badminton facilities available on the contiguous Anna University campus.

The high teaching-learning and research standards maintained ab initio by MSE are reflected in its placement record. The school’s annual placement programme attracts highly-reputed organisations such as Asian Develop-ment Research Institute, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and corporate clients such as Hewlett Packard Analytics, Delloite and Touche, Dun and Brad-street, Ernst and Young, and World Bank, who snap up MSE’s post-graduates with start-up packages of Rs.6-10 lakh per annum.

To respond to the changing needs of India Inc and academia, the MSE management is all set to introduce three specialised postgraduate programmes in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in the new academic year 2010-11. These are: M.Sc programmes in actuarial econo-mics, applied quantitative finance and environmental economics. “We also plan to expand our faculty and build a new academic block with four additional classrooms and an auditorium to double our student intake to 200. But to be able to accelerate the growth of MSE, we need greater financial support and backing of Indian industry,” says Srivastava.

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)