In an unprecedented manner that promotes international education for Indian students, over 175 students from O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) will be leaving shortly for pursuing Short-Term Study Abroad Programmes (STSAP) across the leading universities of the world, including Harvard University, University of Oxford, Columbia University and the University of California-Berkeley. These programmes are coordinated by the International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building (IIHEd), an institute located within, JGU which is dedicated towards research and capacity building in higher education.
The students of JGU will be attending these coveted programmes as part of the various short study abroad opportunities offered to them at JGU. They will receive academic credits and a Certificate from the host university, besides an opportunity to pursue a study abroad programme at a world class university. The prestigious universities that will host JGU students, include Harvard university where 35 students from JGU will be studying human rights and development at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; University of Oxford, that will be hosting a cohort of 26 students who will be reading International Law and Global Governance at Somerville College,Oxford and Columbia University Law School, where 27 of JGU’s students have enrolled to study business and corporate laws at US Business Law Academy. The students travelling to University of California-Berkeley will get an exposure on Global Media and International Journalism. Smaller groups of JGU students will also be visiting Brunel university London to study Intellectual Property and Competition law and Monash University’s Prato Centre, Italy to study comparative law. JGU has further collaborated with other leadinguniversities of the world like Sciences Po (The Paris Institute of Political Science) France, Instituto Superior de Derecho Economia (ISDE), Madrid, and University of Granada, Spain, to offer a diverse set of programmes encompassing various disciplines.
Short Term study abroad programmes have become extremely relevant for the universities who aspire to impart a world-class learning experience to its students. The international exposure not only broadens the students’ outlook but introduces them to multi-cultural and interdisciplinary learning environment. This global confluence of experience equips the students with skills andknowledge with a view to educating and inspiring them in the fast evolving global world. It will also help them imbibe the required qualifications and expertise that will be relevant in the globalized work environment.
Talking about JGU’s sustained effort to provide students with increased study abroad opportunities, the founding Vice-Chancellor of JGU, Professor C. Raj Kumar reiterated that,“JGU is relentlessly working to expand and diversify the short term study abroad programmes offered to students. The remarkable feature of these programmes are that they don’t impose any disciplinary limitations for students as far as access is concerned. For example, any student from any school in any year of study can pursue almost all of these programme”. Highlighting the growth and expansion of these programmes in the last few years, Professor Kumar said, “From 3 programmes in 2016, JGU is now offering short term study abroad opportunities in more than 10 world-class universities. Every year, new programmes are added and offered in collaboration with our partner universities and the JGU’s International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building (IIHEd) is leading this effort. Through these endeavours, we reaffirm our commitment to produce global citizens and constantly explore global opportunities for our students”.
In 2018, JGU held its first Jindal-Fletcher Programme on Law and Diplomacy with the Fletcher school of Law and Diplomacy of the Tufts University and the Media and International Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. All the schools are benefitted by this exposure.
For example, over 100 students from the Jindal Global Law School, the Jindal School of International Affairs and the Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities go to Oxford University alone. This year too, JGU has formed new partnerships with prestigious institutions like Sciences Po, Paris, Brunel University London among others. The three-four-week short term fully residential programmes are structured in a way that cuts across the themes of law, diplomacy, media and communication, sports, governance and human rights. The Inter-disciplinary nature of these credit-based programmes ensures maximum participation from students across JGU’s eight schools.
“It’s an enriching experience for the students who get a first-hand experience of life at Oxford through JOSS. The summer school is designed in a manner that the students get to learn from various professors who teach on different topics of International law ranging from International Dispute Resolution to complicity of International law helping the students to broaden their horizons” said, Prof.Eesha Mohapatra, Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean (International Collaborations), Jindal Global Law School. In a similar vein, speaking about the Jindal-Berkeley Summer School, that will see its second batch of students, Professor Thomas Goldstein, Dean, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication highlights that ‘the program, by exposing students to leading technology and media thinkers in the United States, is meant to open students to new approaches in understanding the world. Further, In the first iteration of this program, students from a variety of disciplines got to experience the cutting edge, customized ways of viewing the exciting changes in the media”.
Apart from the rigorous academic curriculum and pedagogy, every programme includes features of experiential learning through field trips and study tours, as well as visits to relevant organisations and institutions germane to the theme of the study abroad programme. The comprehensive design of the programme along with opportunity to gain international exposure makes such programmes popular choice with the students and parents. “The demand for these programmes among students is high. International exposure is considered as an essential element of educational experience by students, parents, universities as well as the employers. These residential programmes not only provides students an opportunity to be a part of host university’s unique tutorial system but also allows them to have the experience of pursuing an intensive and rigorous programme at some of the world’s prestigious universities” says, Nandita Koshal, Research Associate, International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building, JGU and Coordinator, Short Term Study Abroad Programmes for JGU.
The Short Term study abroad opportunities are an example of JGU’s commitment to provide students with an all-round holistic learning environment. Aryan, a first year student of BA LLB Course at Jindal Global Law School expressed his appreciation to JGU “for allowing me the privilege to attend the summer school at the prestigious Harvard University on Human Rights and Development. This program will be a perfect platform for me to get acquainted with the thins and threads of Human Rights and their violation throughout the globe. It will not only give me an international exposure but alsoinspire me to consider pursuing graduate studies at Harvard”.
The experiences acquired through study abroad help in developing aglobal outlook, along with strengthening soft skills of the students is the reason for the growing interest among Indian students to pursue these programmes. JGU is leading an effort to allow students to develop these new capabilities by providing global exposure through its short term study abroad programmes. Over the last ten years, JGU has built substantive international collaborations with over 250 universities across 55 countries of the world. But the short term study abroad programmes that JGU offers in the world’s most coveted universities are clearly the most sought after opportunities in the life of a student at JGU.
