Our People Feature: Hamreet Sekhon, Senior Advisor of Graduate Programs

Despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary has remained committed and focused on student success.

“The Master’s in Public Policy programs provide ongoing student support, from professional development, career support to wellness, which is grounded on student success”, said Hamreet Sekhon, Senior Advisor of Graduate Programs.

“A good example of this is our Alberta Policy Internship Program (APIP) that provides a unique opportunity for MPP graduate students to work directly with the Government of Alberta under a six-month internship program,” she said.

“The School of Public Policy, MPP program is a one-year professional program that provides students the opportunity to think big and work on public policy issues in our present today – from networking opportunities, capstone research projects to mentorship programs with our alumni, the MPP program works to ensure students success from day one.”

Sekhon said the instructors in the faculty have embraced online learning with students being able to attend classes live,  but they are also recorded so they can watch them at a later time. The School has also increased office hours and gone out of its way to create more opportunities for student engagement.

“Overall as a program we’ve pivoted and focused on providing opportunities for students to connect not only with instructors but also to engage with support staff such as myself and ensure networking opportunities with the public and private sector, community leaders and our alumni remain. In an online world, we have been able to wider our reach and strengthen relationships across Canada” said Sekhon.

The APIP is a six-month paid internship program catered to students in the MPP program as a unique and exclusive internship with the Government of Alberta. The program was launched last fall with students to begin their placements in the spring of 2020.

“We had to obviously naturally shift gears (due to the pandemic) because students were going to be starting their placement in May. We were actually really happy to offer in collaboration with the University of Alberta seven guaranteed spots for students,” said Sekhon.  “three spots were allocated to MPP graduate students and they (two of them) have already been able to secure additional employment contracts.”

“What’s unique about that is they we were able to transition the internship program online and offer in-person work (pending COVID-19 guidelines)  – this was a unique challenge during the internships inaugural year; however, the program continued with onboarding, professional development and check-in with both interns and mentors. For us, it really speaks to the program.”

Sekhon said the MPP is unique, even in these challenging times, in offering support to students from day one to when they graduate and when they are looking for employment. The program also offers opportunities for mentorship and networking.