Oxford Univ introduces MSc in Contemporary India BY Prasun Sonwalkar

London, Sept 24 (PTI) Oxford University's close engagement with India is set to move a notch higher with the commencement of the first batch on the new MSc in Contemporary India from October six.

The ancient seat of learning has introduced the
nine-month degree in the School of Interdisciplinary Area
Studies to cater to growing interest among students about
India and its burgeoning economy.

The batch comprises 18 students from the United States,
UK, Canada and India, including a management consultant from
Mumbai.

"The degree will give the students the opportunity to
study India, and also to study how we know about India,"
Professor of Development Studies, Barbara Harris-White, told
PTI.

"There are six aspects: international relations and
regional politics, national politics, culture, human
development, political economy and environment. They will also
be given a grounding in research methods in the main social
science disciplines," she said.

Several Indians, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
have studied at Oxford, where academics have researched and
taught subjects related to India for several decades.

The MSc course provides stand-alone training for those
wishing to specialise in India, either out of academic
interest or as preparation for work in the private sector,
international organisations, government, N.G.O.s,
multi-lateral and bi-lateral aid and development agencies and
media organisations.

Harris-White said: "This is an unusual and intellectually
ambitious Masters course. We want the students to have the
chance to pursue India and the ideas of India in depth.

"In their applications, all of them testified to their
interest in India's achievements and persistent problems, and
one cannot be understood without the other," she said.

The course will also serve as first stage preparation
for subsequent doctoral research on India.

"For a long time it has been a personal dream of mine
that Oxford should have research and teaching on India to
match its spectacular success with China.

"That way the two big giants of the 21st century may not
just be studied in their own right but also be compared and
contrasted from positions of strength in this university. It
is an exciting prospect to make that dream come true,"
Harris-White added.

The course includes provision for a dissertation on a
topic of the student’s choice. Although there is no need for
students to conduct research fieldwork in India, this can be
supported and encouraged, the professor said. PTI CORR AKV
BDS