Two departments of Harvard University will be represented at its Mumbai office which will open this year. | |
| The Harvard Business School will set up a research centre of the type it has in place at several other locations in the world, while Harvard's South Asia Initiative (SAI) which promotes scholarship, research and travel to the region will have liaison staff to develop ties and undertake joint projects with universities, research institutions, non-governmental organisations and think-tanks, Sugata Bose of Harvard University said here today at the Partnership Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Kolkata. |
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| The new SAI office slated to open in Mumbai will provide students with information, contacts and funding for academic programmes and social work in India as well, according to SAI assistant director Rena Fonseca. |
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| The SAI office will be adjacent to the global research centre (GRC) Harvard Business School (HBS) will open but it will not offer any classes of its own. Instead, SAI will use its connections with existing universities and research programmes to help students draft their own course of study. |
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| According to Foneseca, the programme will do more than help coordinate students' larger academic goals and will orient Harvard students and faculty to India.The Mumbai office will list useful contacts and information on safe places to stay, doctors, visa and passport information. The Mumbai office will be one of a handful Harvard is setting up overseas. |
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| Currently, the Harvard College Study Abroad Program in Santiago, Chile, allows Spanish-speaking students to enroll directly in local universities. |
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| The launch of the Harvard Beijing academy, one of nine study abroad programmes offered by the university this summer, is slated for the summer of 2005 as well. |
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| The China and Mumbai programmes come on the heels of last spring's curricular review recommendations which advocated an expectation of international experience for all non-international undergraduates, said Fonseca. |
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| SAI will increase availability of funding for students who wish to travel to India through a spring grant competition. |
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| According to Jane Edwards, director of Harvard's Office of International Programs (OIP), the new programme represented an effort to get the best possible collection of opportunities for students. |
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| Fonseca indicated students may eventually get course credit for both academic and social work, coordinated through the office. |
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| "Our hope is to make such an experience available to many more students, including, for example, science concentrators who have typically not travelled abroad as much as humanities concentrators", according to Fonseca. |
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| Harvard has already received 65 applications from Harvard students alone for the 12 slots available for its Aina Arts effort till November. |
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| Harvard University expects that study abroad programmes in India will become even more popular once the SAI Mumbai office opens. |
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