Rashtram Accelerator - PG Diploma in Public Leadership

India’s only program in public leadership

  • Mentor guidance and a Gurukul-like environment
  • Dharmic and integrative approach
  • Exposure to public issues at local, national, and global levels
  • Interaction with policy-makers and parliamentarians
  • Real-life exposure through problem-solving
  • Mandatory internship and experiential learning projects

Join us on a journey that will fill you with awe, mesmerize you about India, and inspire you to work for the future that we all globally want to live in—a sustainable life on earth filled with joy, dignity, and excitement!

SANJEEV KUMAR
Dean and Professor, Rashtram School of Public Leadership, Rishihood University

Accelerate your Journey into Public Leadership

  • Learn leadership by problem-solving
  • Immerse in a dharmic environment and curriculum
  • Experiential modules with hands-on projects and internships
  • Workplace skills like communication, data analysis, video editing, social media management, and more

Who is This Program For?

This program is designed for aspiring changemakers who are looking for a functional shift into more public-facing impact roles in following areas

Public
Policy

 Corporate Social Responsibility

Media
Management

Political
Consulting

Government Consulting

Social Enterpreneurship

Immerse into the World of Public Leadership

City as a Lab

Experiential Learning

Mandatory Internship

Rishihood’s unique integration with the city’s people and its development

Hands-on experience in understanding society and working on solutions

Experience viscerally how to come in terms with a complex system and apply system-thinking approach to problem-solving

Work with faculty members on real problem statements given by real people

Gain insights into how the world functions

Internship at the end of the program to be ready for the workplace

Choose from various sectors like NGOs, think tanks, consultancy, government, corporate, media, etc.

Learn from the Best

Faculty & Mentors

Prof. Sanjeev Kumar

Professor & Dean - Rashtram School of Public Leadership

Vinayak Lohani

Founder & Chief, Parivaar | B.Tech, IIT, Kharagpur | MBA ,IIM, Calcutta

PRADEEP BHANDARI

Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Jan Ki Baat | Indian Journalist | Author | Bachelor of Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology

SANJAY PULLIPAKKA

Chairperson of the Politeia Research Foundation

SHANTANU GUPTA

Founder - The Ramayana School | Author | TV Panelist Political Analyst | Engineering degree, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology | Masters in Governance and Development, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, United Kingdom

Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi

Former Vice Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi

Nilima Bhat

Founder and Director: Shakti Fellowship

Prof. Arup Mitra

South Asian University, Delhi

Dr. Shamika Ravi

Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India

Suresh Prabhu

Chancellor, Rishihod University | Former Uninon Minister with 10 portfolios | 6 times Member of parliament | Visiting Professor of London School of Economics

DR. MUKUL ASHER

Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore | PhD in Economics from Washington State University

PRASHANT SINGH

Professor & Director of Center for Innovation in Governance | B.Tech. (Hons.) in Electrical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur | PGDM from IIM Bangalore

VISHNU SWAMINATHAN

Co-Founder, Director at Nourishing Schools Foundation | Leadership Coach (PCC)

Prof. Shyam Sunder

Yale University

Dr. Raj Vedam

Hindu University of America, Florida, USA

Hariharan Krishnan

Director at Krea University

Sanjeev Sanyal

Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India

Dr. Rajiv Kumar

Former Vice Chairman of the Niti -Aayog

Curriculum

Semester 1

Semester 1 Rishihood Essentials + Introduction to the Field

  • Global Grand Challenges and Leading During Crisis
  • Science of Living
  • Leadership Colloquium 1
  • Indian Polity and Administration
  • Design Thinking for Effective Leadership
  • Strategic Leadership and Innovation
  • Economics for Public Leadership
  • Understanding and Building Narratives through Mass Media
  • Experiential Leadership Module
Semester 2

Semester 2 Rishihood Essentials + Get to Know More

  • Environment and System Thinking
  • Leadership Colloquium 2
  • Statistical Thinking for Leadership
  • Public Leaders and Movements
  • Entrepreneurship and Business Model Design
  • Issues in Public Leadership
  • Art of Critical Enquiry and Argumentation
  • Leading Non-Profits and CSR
  • Capstone Project

Workshops

The residential program has a series of workshops, both on hands-on skills as well leadership perspectives. Some of the workshops are:

Negotiation

Modern Political Movements

Psephology

Saundrya-Chetna: Aesthetics

Risk Literacy

Creative Writing

Cost Benefit Analysis

Theatre

Causal Inference

Global Governance

Vaad: Rejuvenating the Traditional Indian Debate Parampara

Glimpses of the Workshops and Masterclasses

Suresh Prabhu (Former Cabinet Minister and Parliamentarian) delivering a masterclass on ‘Life in Politics’

Dr. Radhavallabh Triapthi training the learners on ‘vaad – the Indian art of argumentation

Dr. Mahesh Sharma (Former Rajya Sabha MP) interacting with the learners on ‘Integral Humanism’

Prof. Shyam Sunder
(Yale Schooo of Management) delivering a masterclass on “Challenges in the Creation of Local Public Goods.”

Careers in Public Leadership | What after Rashtram Accelerator?

Leadership is about purpose, not placements. The purposeful leaders coming out of Rashtram Accelerator have great opportunities for impact in domains like:

Public Policy

Media Management

Corporate Social Responsibility

Development Sector Professional

Government Consulting

Political Consulting

The Rishihood Learning Experience

Rishihood Essentials

Foundational courses in leadership, global perspectives, self-awareness, and data science to set you on the path of success and fulfillment

Inner Curriculum

Prepare not just for the industry but for life with Rishihood’s inner curriculum focusing on mindfulness, sports, music, health, and wellbeing.

Residential Peer Community

A fully-residential peer community from 25+ states in India and other countries; student clubs in theatre, dance, movies, photography, etc. Our residential life is healthy, safe, and joyful.

Parallel Curriculum

Feature workshops on a regular basis on topics like communication, workplace tools, new software, and team management to prepare you for the future today itself

Mindset for Leadership and Impact

Rishihood is a unique community that inspires a set of values for a purposeful existence. We don’t train you for a living, we prepare you for life.

Program Outcomes

Leaders grounded in Indic Knowledge Systems. Having transformed themselves, ready to transform the world.

Practical, Hands-On Skills in chosen areas

The program is action oriented and designed to give learners practical skills that will make them valuable in their chosen areas.

Self-managment skills during crises

Learners will be prepared to handle themselves and their problems using a balanced approach so that they can successfully navigate the challenges they are likely to face in a leadership role.

 

An Authetic, Indic Leadership Style

Ability to lead with clarity, conviction, courage, and compassion while being rooted in Indian culture and knowledge traditions which will give learners a unique identity and mental stability.

An expended professional network

Graduates will stay connected with influential leaders, academics, and social influencers and through them find relevant career opportunities.

 

A network of lifelong mentors to guide you

As learners go through the program, they will have access to a cloud of mentors who are experts in various fields – this access to experiential wisdom of successful people will have a positive constructive effect on the learners understanding of key topics.

A sharper and clearer problem-solving logic

Learners will walk away with the ability to apply deep thinking and clear logic to any problem using powerful problem-solving frameworks and derive actionable insights that help to move forward the agenda of progress.

An inclusive Indic Worldview

A broader and more refined worldview and a balanced view of Indian and world history, culture, geopolitics, and social dynamics which will lead to more holistic solutions for the future.

The ability to create change

Practiced and perfected leadership skills of influencing minds through speaking and writing.

A Campus You Would Call Your Home

Rishihood is a 21st-century gurukul in Delhi NCR. The 25-acre campus includes state-of-the-art sports facilities, a terrific library, well-equipped labs, a learners’ arena, an organic farm, miyawakee forest, a fruit forest, and much more. Explore the campus below

A professional 9 to 5 job seems like a dream once you graduate from college. It provides a stable routine life, regular pay, and a promise to climb up the hierarchy. Now that it is settled, there is still something missing. A feeling that you are made for bigger things in life.

You take steps to improve yourself every day and often think about the world around you. But where do you start your journey?

Rashtram Accelerator is a courageous shift to follow your higher calling. Align your inner self with the community, society, nation, and the world.

Shri Shobhit Mathur
Co-founder and Vice-Chancellor, Rishihood University Alumnus of IIT Bombay, University of Washington, and ISB

Admission and Selection Process

Online Application

Share your academic and extra-curricular details

Aptitude Test

Logical reasoning and general aptitude for the course

Personal Interview

Share your motivations to study this program

Admission and Selection Process

Online Application

Share your academic and extra-curricular details

Aptitude Test

Logical reasoning and general aptitude for the course

Personal Interview

Share your motivations to study this program

1st Convocation's Learner
2022 - 23

  • Dhawan Jagirdar
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Sanjam Sachdeva
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Sanket Kalambe
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Someshwar Gurumath
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Padmaraj R Shetty
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Simran Parmar
    PGDPL Learner 2022

Testimonials for
program

  • Shri Pradeep Bhandari
    Founder and CEO
    Jan Ki Baat
  • Prasad Bhopale
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Suprabha Sharma
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Prof Swathi Ram
    Guest Faculty
  • Dhawan Jagirdar
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Sanket Kalambe
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Someshwar Gurumath
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Simran Parmar
    PGDPL Learner 2022
  • Humility and intellectual integrity are the hallmarks of true scholarship. We are glad to see the students from Rishihood University fit the description accurately. We are also pleased to observe that students are driven to a larger purpose of nation-building. The effort of the University team is visible in the aptitude, attitude and work ethic of the students.

    We congratulate the Rishihood university on its endeavors. We will be looking forward to receiving more students as our partners and employees—Jai Maa Bharati ki.

    Saikrishna BVS
    CEO Pinaca Technologies
  • Being at Rishihood was a quite a fulfilling and special experience for me – a novel experiment that involves the use of education for cultural awakening.

    The curriculum including pedagogical innovation tries to bring elements of our civilizational legacy in the learning. The enthusiasm and exuberance of the students, the concept of the architecture, and the use of space including the utility of the cafeteria where the process of learning gets extended beyond the classrooms make the setting a special one. It was beautiful experience, being a part of Rishihood.

    Dr Akhilesh Pathak
    Assistant Professor (Sociology)
    Lakshmibai College
    The University of Delhi.