Making public service efficient, on-line

Globalisation has forced a paradigm shift in the way service is rendered by the State. Even the State is not spared from having to reform itself and change the way it looks at providing services.

But the state cannot spend sufficient time and money on management training. Hence there emerged the cost effective option of online instruction.

Singapore-headquartered Universitas 21 Global is an online university that provides MBA in all the major disciplines of management. Universitas 21 Global is jointly owned by 16 universities from across the world.

The university allows its students a maximum of five years to complete the MBA. It charges $7,500 for the course or Rs 3.22 lakh in India. These features make it suitable for public sector employees to opt for its courses at a time when there has been a growing demand for professionalism in public services.

"This has been necessitated by the need to provide the service with no increase in the costs as the tax payer is reluctant to pay more in an inflationary economy," said Michael Goldberg, chief academic officer of the university is in touch with many of the governments across the world to get them to get their civil servants trained as professional managers.

With the 'welfare state' burdened with the task of providing services without pinching the pockets of the citizens, it is necessary that the state provide the service with utmost efficiency. One way, the state has found to do so is through privatisation. "This is what Margaret Thatcher did," said Goldberg.

But, privatisation cannot be the solution everywhere as there will be public resistance. So to provide services more efficiently and without privatisaing the services, the civil servants need to be given management training, says Goldberg.

Civil servants securing management training online will be the best way out and without having to take a sabbatical, and see a discontinuity in their work.

Management training for civil servants is imperative to keep them abreast of the latest developments in providing services and efficiently.

The globalised world has seen people demanding that services be provided more efficiently and at the minimum cost.

The civil servant can do so no matter which part of the country he/she is serving in.