Feb. 1, 2006

Passage to India

Can’t find your president on campus? You might try looking in Delhi.

Looking for a job?

See all new postings

Browse all job listings:

Faculty: 3,481
Administrative: 1,574
Executive: 156
FEATURED EMPLOYERS

For a variety of economic, political and educational reasons, leaders of American colleges are finding it increasingly worth their time to visit India, where they are trying to attract more students, negotiate distance learning agreements, set up joint ventures and raise money.

India has long been a place of study for scholars of the region’s history, religions and cultures. And India has long been a major supplier of foreign students for American colleges, but the numbers have shot up dramatically in the last decade, such that India now sends more students to the United States than any other country and students from India now make up 14 percent of all foreign students in the United States (double the share of 10 years ago).

But it is only in the past few years that many American colleges have started to expand their role in the country.

For American higher education, “India is the next China,” says Philip Altbach, director of Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education.

In many ways, Altbach and others say, India logically should have been attractive to American colleges looking for partners years ago. India has long had a large share of well educated students who speak English and an interest in technology — and the government is democratic. But that government has historically been dubious of American institutions, and bureaucratic roadblocks were numerous for any American university leader trying to do much more than visit.

In the past few years, however, India’s government has become much more receptive — and while complicated regulations are by no means gone, they are not seen as insurmountable. At the same time, the Indian economy has taken off. Despite widespread poverty among some groups, the middle class has expanded such that there are literally millions of potential students (and with the ability to pay tuition) who may be attracted to programs with an American connection — regardless of where those programs are located.

Some of the recent connections between higher ed in the United States and India:

• In July, five American universities signed an agreement under which their faculty members would produce courses and lectures that Amrita University in India would offer and transmit via distance education. The American institutions are Carnegie Mellon and Cornell Universities, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and San Diego.
• The Rev. Timothy R. Lannon, the president of Saint Joseph’s University, was in India last month to negotiate agreements with six universities about both student exchanges and joint degree programs. The universities in India and Saint Joseph’s, in Philadelphia, are all Jesuit institutions.
• The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania last month announced that it was creating a new version of its Knowledge@Wharton business analysis and publishing unit — to be focused on India. The new India Knowledge@Wharton was one of the programs about which Penn ’s president, Amy Gutmann, briefed university alumni during her January trip to India.
• The University of Southern California — which leads American colleges in the number of foreign students enrolled — just recruited Ratan Tata, a leading executive in India, to its Board of Trustees. The university spent two years wooing Tata for the position. If you wonder why, consider that the companies in the Tata Group conglomerate of which he is chairman saw $1.8 billion in profit last year.
• Several colleges are starting special courses in India for American students to spend an intense month of study, typically preceded or followed by instruction in the United States. Among such courses are one on marine science by Juniata College in cooperation with Cochin and Pondicherry Universities, a College of St. Catherine course focused on issues of poverty in the lives of Indian women, and a Goucher College course that uses study of Indian religions and arts to explore broader themes about the country.
• In December, 16 American universities signed an agreement with Indian officials to provide distance education in selected areas — especially space studies and engineering — in India. Participating American institutions include Harvard and Princeton Universities, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the University of North Dakota.
• Yale University and Jawaharlal Nehru University last year agreed to start an exchange program of graduate and professional students.

Universities that have made India a major focus are seeing a range of benefits, especially in enrollments. But those benefits do not come without real investments. At the University of Southern California, for example, there are more than 1,000 students from India — as well as more than 60 professors of Indian heritage. The steady growth in enrollments from India meant that USC did not experience the foreign enrollment decline that many other institutions saw post/9-11.

“This has been a priority,” says C.L. Max Nikias, the provost.

Because of increased competition for students from India, Southern Cal holds admissions events twice a year in each of six cities in India, he says. “Canadian and European universities are becoming very aggressive in going after South Asian students, so we have to be as well,” he says.

Nikias sees the potential for much more growth in enrollment from India. And while much of the enrollment has historically been in engineering and business, he says that he is starting to see more applications lately from students interested in the liberal arts.

“We are talking about a huge country, with an awful lot of families who would like their children educated in the United States,” he says. “And there is no language barrier, so students can come as undergraduates or graduate students.”

Being visible in India is key to having students want to study at USC’s home campus, Nikias adds. That was part of the motivation for recruiting Tata to the board. And that’s why USC has set up a series of scholarly exchanges and started a range of education programs in India. Nikias said American colleges need to be flexible about how they provide education because many models are different in India. Corporations are key players, he said, and the university has set up several distance education programs that are focused on specific needs of companies in India, not on traditional degree programs.

Susan Kassab, director of admissions at Saint Joseph’s, said that her institution would also like to see more students from India. Currently, her university has about 80. Saint Joseph’s hopes to see a mix of students: some enrolled in full degree programs, some enrolled for a semester (with Saint Joseph’s students going to India for a semester), and some in joint degree programs, perhaps earning one degree in India and one at her university.

Many experts advise American colleges to work with institutions with which there is some connection — alumni, shared mission, etc. And Kassab says that the shared religious heritage creates a strong bond for leaders of the various institutions. “Jesuit is Jesuit no matter where you are.”

Many of the colleges setting up these programs see them as part of efforts to expose their students to diverse cultures. At the University of North Dakota, the distance learning program in India has also led to the creation of a student exchange program with the University of Goa, and another exchange with an Indian university may be in the works.

Victoria Beard, associate provost at North Dakota, said that given her state’s demographics, the university has limited options on campus for promoting diversity. So sending students to a place like India provides exposure both to new cultures and ideas and also to a country having a greater and greater impact on the world economy. “My personal opinion is that nobody should graduate from the University of North Dakota without a valid passport — whether there are stamps on it or not, it says that you are a member of the global community,” she says.

Among academics in India, views differ on the growing number of exchanges. K.B. Powar, a consultant who was formerly secretary general of the Association of Indian Universities and vice chancellor of Shivaji University, said that while there is much excitement about the new relationships, there is also some “suspicion.” Generally, he says, professors are enthusiastic as they are able to participate in more joint research projects. Likewise, he says that many students and parents — who are ambitious for the students to earn American degrees — are thrilled by the increased interest in the United States.

But the joint degree programs being created can be seen in several ways, Powar says. In some cases, they provide Indian students with an affordable way to get an American education. But in a number of cases, he says, institutions that have been trying to set up in India “are not always the best,” and there are concerns about quality. He is quick to add that many other American institutions involved are of high quality.

Altbach of Boston College says that he applauds all of the interest in ties to India, but he warns that American colleges need to be “very careful” about the kinds of programs they are setting up. “The regulatory environment isn’t always clear,” he says, and state governments are not always consistent with the federal government, potentially making it difficult to obtain permission to start certain programs. And a change in government can mean a whole new set of rules.

“I think people are rushing in because they see rupee signs or dollar signs and some of them are going to get burned,” he says.

A good example may be the experience of Laureate Education, an international for-profit group of universities. Laureate has had considerable success in much of the world and its campuses are growing, but Christopher Symanoskie, director of corporate communications, says that a small engineering program in India had to be abandoned in 2004 because of difficulty getting necessary permission to offer degrees. “The approvals weren’t coming as fast as had been promised, and we thought it was unfair to students that they might not have an accredited degree,” he says.

Despite that experience, Symanoskie says that Laureate is studying the Indian higher education market and might well look for an opportunity to return. He says that there is high demand for instruction in technology and engineering. Laureate’s aborted venture was its own outfit and much of the company’s growth has come from partnerships with existing colleges — and that may be the way to go, he says.

“We continue to analyze and evaluate the market,” he says. “If we didn’t think the regulatory market would solidify, we wouldn’t be making this investment.”

Laureate will certainly not be alone in making its analyses. Even as universities with numerous ties seek to expand them, new American players are looking for a niche for themselves.

Robert G. Bottoms, president of DePauw University, leaves for India this month on a delegation organized by Cummins, an engine company with a large operation in India and headquarters, like DePauw, in Indiana. Bottoms says that university and company officials hope that DePauw can reach out to company employees to recruit their children to study in the United States, and possibly to offer some educational programs at Cummins plants in India.

Currently, DePauw has about four Indian students most years in degree programs and a few more exchange students. Bottoms would like to see that number grow to 50 degree students a year, which over time could be a new base of students. On a campus of 2,300, having a few hundred students from India could be a real change, he says.

While stressing that this trip is “exploratory,” Bottoms says that he hopes to see the Indian enrollments “help to create a different kind of community.”

— Scott Jaschik

Want it on paper? Print this page.
Know someone who’d be interested? Forward this story.
Want to stay informed? Sign up for free daily news e-mail.

Advertisement

Comments