The Study in India Program: A Journey in Internationalization

Last time I posted about how students from India, China and other eastern countries must avail of the opportunity to study in western countries like US, UK, Canada, Germany etc. There is also a

huge opportunity for students from the western countries to study the rich culture and heritage of India. Here is a note from Dr. Aparna Rayaprol, Director, Study in India Program (SIP) University of Hyderabad, about what opportunities exist for students who are keen on learning what India has offer.

"I have been the Director of the Study in India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad since June 2009, but have been associated with the SIP since its inception in 1998 as its Academic Coordinator. The University is a central university created through an Act of Parliament and is regarded as among India’s top universities.  In the last 12 years, I have been involved in the conceptualization and development of the only program of this kind in an Indian university. SIP is an interdisciplinary initiative emphasizing the study of the culture and heritage of India along with providing insights into India’s emergence as an economic power and a leader in scientific and technological innovation.

The SIP has partnerships with several universities such as the University of California (Education Abroad Program), University of Pittsburgh, Hofstra University as well as with consortia such as the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the Nordic Centre in India (NCI), American Institute of Foreign Study, and International Educational Exchange Program (ISEP). As the Director of SIP, I am primarily responsible for forging inter-institutional agreements that allow foreign students to come to our university for a typical study abroad experience.  My role extends from initial contact and development of rapport with counterparts in other institutions, understanding their academic and administrative needs and matching them with our strengths, negotiating on the basis of institutional imperatives on both sides, leading eventually to a formal agreement between the institutions.  At SIP we coordinate and supervise planning and execution of all academic matters, such as course curriculum design, development of content, and credit transfer arrangements. At the university end, SIP maintains constant communication with participating faculty members as well as with the various administrative wings of the university that ensures a smooth ride for the program.  It takes at least a year for new agreements to get operationalized. For the first time this year, we have successfully put together a tailor-made, 10-week, 12- credit program for Dartmouth College. This particular program took almost three years in the making, with meticulous planning and designing of exclusive courses. At SIP, while we strive to offer special courses designed to meet the interests of students, we attempt to integrate foreign students into the common classroom with other Indian students. We also started a specially designed program with Duke University, and Ohio State University. The biggest challenge has been to maintain the uniqueness of SIP, while catering to the very diverse demands of our partner institutions.

We have also developed short-term 4-6-week summer programs as well as 16-week (semester-long) programs for foreign students who come to our university.  It is a typical study abroad for students where SIP acts as a single-window system facilitating both academic and administrative support to the students. We provide one-on-one course counseling for the semester students, where we give them a long list of all the courses available in our university and help them match those courses with their interests. We also communicate with the study abroad administrations in their host institutions to help prepare the students for the program. Organizing SIP involves a complex management of speedy correspondence with the host institution and prospective students as well as planning and operationalizing these courses at our end. Once the students are here, SIP helps them in settling down in the international student housing and offers them a detailed orientation which includes both academic as well as cultural issues. The typical American student who is used to a lot of independence and space needs to adjust to the challenges of an intensely sensual and sometimes overwhelming Indian experience. SIP acts as a buffer for these students who need the support system.

For the short-term summer courses, we usually discuss the details of the course curriculum with the faculty at the host institutions and offer courses that give the students a firsthand experience of India. An interdisciplinary course on Contemporary India is one of our designer courses, where we have one faculty coordinator and a series of experts who lecture on different topics. I have also designed and taught a course on Ethnographic Approaches to Indian Society, where I have tried to help students understand Indian society through a research topic of their choice.

At the university end, SIP has been at the forefront of realizing the vision of executive leadership of the University for internationalization of our campus. Although there have been several challenges, our University administration has been extremely supportive and exhibited a great deal of flexibility to accommodate the peculiar needs of administering SIP. It has been a long road and we are expanding like never before. From a 9-week, 9-credit summer program in 1998 with eight students, we are now close to reaching the 200 mark in the last academic year. From housing students in a small apartment and the University Guest House in the early years, we have gradually moved to building an exclusive residence hall, the Tagore International House (TIH), which is a fully-furnished, air-conditioned space for about 150 international students and 12 faculty suites. It has a dining hall that caters food prepared in hygienic conditions to suit the dietary and health needs of international students.

At present, SIP has been involved only in dealing with those students who come to us for a semester’s study. It is only recently that an Office of International Affairs has been set up at the University and there is an attempt to centralize the international linkages of the various schools and also deal with other international students who come for full degree programs. We are entering a new phase where a lot of our international partners are showing active interest in student exchanges.  The University has been deliberately going slow on this because various issues concerning the Indian students’ social background and their differential paying ability to study abroad are yet to be sorted out.  However, with macro-level changes in the global higher education environment as well as in the Indian education system, it is time that progressive universities like ours take a lead role in finding appropriate and equitable solutions to such problems and open up opportunities for international exposure for our students."

- Dr. Aparna Rayaprol
arayaprol@gmail.com