President Ruth Simmons, Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P'07 and other University administrators traveled to India last week for five days of meetings with alumni, representatives of Indian universities and government officials.
While the delegation was visiting, the Indian government announced new legislation allowing foreign universities to establish campuses in India more easily. But establishing a campus in India "is not Brown's intention," Simmons told The Herald. "We are interested in continuing and strengthening relationships with universities in India," she said.
Making global connections
The delegation attended the first meeting of the new India Advisory Council, comprised of alumni and parents of students. In that meeting, there was talk of creating a center for research in India within the next five years, said Matthew Gutmann, vice president for international affairs.
"That idea is of great interest to members of the advisory council," he said.
Forming partnerships with other universities is "not unusual for us," Simmons said. "We look for relationships with other institutions that will benefit our students and our faculty." In March, the University announced a joint master's program with Instituto Empresa in Spain.
India has become a hotbed of engineering and technological research, especially at the 15 Indian Institutes of Technology spread throughout the country. "It's natural if we are working with the top universities, we look at what can be done in those fields," Simmons said.
The University has been partnering with liberal arts colleges like St. Stephen's College through study abroad programs.
"The potential for scientific collaboration is perhaps obvious, but it is worth noting that the huge economic and social transformation that is currently taking place in India is of enormous interest to researchers in the social sciences and the humanities," Vohra wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
"Our aim is primarily academic, but when it comes to research collaborations there is no reason to assume that they will always be with universities," he wrote. "Over time, I would expect that the kind of productive research partnerships that develop between academic researchers and U.S. businesses will extend to Indian businesses."
The University recently hired a number of faculty who work in South Asian studies, including Professor of Political Science Ashutosh Varshney and Visiting Professor of Theatre Shayoni Mitra. "We are feeling very positive about the group already," Simmons said.
A push to partner
The immediate outcome of the visit may be exchanges that will bring new faculty to Brown and allow Brown faculty to teach in India. The University would invite departments to nominate potential visiting faculty, Simmons said.
The visit has been in the works for two years, said Simmons, who designated this academic year the Year of India. "I wanted people to know about the very strong interest that we have in India," she said.
Simmons said she was amazed that during her visit, people were discussing the Year of India, a series of events that she called part of a longer-term commitment to Indian studies
"India is a very complex country, and you can't do justice to it in one year," she said. "This is the springboard for something much more enduring."
Members of the delegation are still in India holding meetings. News about specific fellowships, exchanges and resources for research in India could still be forthcoming, Simmons said. "The IAC is very anxious for us to do that. We have to follow up with something concrete," she said.
Vohra, an alum of St. Stephen's, said a new agreement would allow more Brown students to study abroad in India. A new exchange will allow a St. Stephen's student to enroll at Brown for a one-year master's program.
Results from the advisory council meeting included the recommendation that the president visit India at least once a year. Other suggestions included establishing a permanent office in India and growing the student exchange program.
The university partnerships in India would be "comprehensive," Simmons said. It would allow not only individual students and faculty to take advantage of new resources, but facilitate the blending of two types of institutional cultures. "We can benefit from energy and the advantages that that culture brings to a different learning setting," she said.
Learning from differences
In addition to India, Brown must nurture connections to China and Brazil, Gutmann said. "You can't hope to be a leading university today if you're not working with scholars in these countries," he said.
A China Advisory Council already exists, and another council in Latin America or Brazil may be formed in the coming years. If each council requires a presidential visit, "how many advisory councils we can sustain is an issue," Simmons said.
Simmons is also "focusing" on Africa, and an advisory council in Africa has been considered, but establishing a council for a whole continent may be more complicated than a country-based council, she said.
Though Simmons is personally interested and invested in the University's relationship with India, she said she is eager for more members of the community to take initiative in building ties. "I'm encouraging faculty and administrators to travel to India," Simmons said. "They need to be there. They need to not just be receiving reports."
Indian universities may be interested in Brown because many are considering introducing a liberal learning component. "We have liabilities in our education system," she said. "They have theirs. One of the most important things in a relationship is to come together as partners, not as critics."
While Simmons was in India, the country passed new legislation mandating education for all children. Simmons said she was excited by efforts to ensure equal access to education in a society historically filled with inequities, even if the execution of such efforts is not always successful. Scheduling in universities based on caste has long been a controversial issue in Indian politics. "The discourse only demonstrate how attuned people in India are to these enduring problems," Simmons said.
Simmons said she found India a vastly different place since she last visited in the 1970s — changes reflected in the attitudes toward education. "The notion of compulsory education — that's about as important in advancing society as anything I can think," she said.
India today is not much different from where the United States used to be, Simmons said.
Her older siblings didn't attend school because they needed to work on the farm, while Simmons herself was able to attend school as one of the youngest children, she said.
Simply stating that equality is an objective represents changes in values, she said.
"It reflects the movement in society that is sometimes so imperceptible. I can see that progress," she said.
