The University announced a new semester-long study abroad program in India last week. The program, which will launch this spring, is aimed at increasing interaction and academic collaboration between University students and faculty and scholars in India.
The curriculum consists of five courses, including an independent study or internship, which will count as a three-credit course. Program Co-Director Geeta Patel, an assistant professor in the Middle East and South Asian Languages and Culture department, said the program will enroll students in courses at Delhi's Ambedkar University in hopes of increasing interaction between Indian and American students.
“You can do almost any kind of independent study that can imagine and you get to do it in a place that is new," Patel said. “This is about doing a program that takes your education and puts it into a world that is totally different and that will teach you all sorts of things.”
Co-Director John Echeverri-Gent, an associate politics professor, said the goal of the program is to give University students an alternative experience.
“When I went to India, I found that it was the most intense learning experience that I had in all of my time as an undergraduate student, and probably my life,” Echeverri-Gent said.
Echeverri-Gent said he hopes the program will inspire students to rethink their own assumptions and leave their comfort zones as they broader their academic horizons.
“One concern that students have is that spending a whole semester from U.Va. might interfere with their broader academic plans,” he said. “We are making certain that by taking a semester away, they do not get caught behind; the program has been structured in a flexible way.”
The program will house University students in suites off Ambedkar’s campus with a resident advisor and a cook.
“I want students to have a great time living in a great place,” Patel said. “Learning is supposed to be fun and it works at its best when pleasure and difficulty intersect — and there is no better place for that than India.”
Applications for the program are due Oct. 15, and faculty will make decisions by Oct. 20. There is no language requirement to apply, however students will be encouraged to take a Hindi course as part of the program.
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