Higher Education
The Choice on India Ink
Guidance on American college applications for readers in India from The Times’s admissions blog.
If you are a student who is interested in taking a variety of university courses and having time to narrow your career options, then a liberal arts education may be an ideal fit for you.
A number of new private universities with liberal arts programs have sprung up in India. There were fewer than 20 such schools in 2005, and there are more than 100 now, according to a report by Shiv Nadar University.
According to the report, since 2008 India has seen a 40-percent increase in students choosing to enroll in private universities instead of public schools, which require students to choose a discipline for admission (and are increasingly difficult to get into).
Private universities offer more choice, but they come at a much higher price. Annual tuition can run as high as 40,000 rupees, compared with 360 rupees at Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College, for example. That is because these private universities — which are often started by entrepreneurs and investors — are generally for-profit businesses, unlike the government schools, which are highly subsidized. Private university owners say the for-profit models gives them the ability to provide students with experienced, well-paid professors.
One of the newest of these private schools is Shiv Nadar University in Noida, a suburb of Delhi. The university, when it opened its doors last year, offered programs in engineering, math and natural sciences to its first batch of 274 students. This year, it began its School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the student population has risen to 574. As at liberal arts schools in the United States, students at Shiv Nadar University are required to take a core curriculum of varied subjects, regardless of their major.
In this week’s installment of The Choice on India Ink, we’re taking a look at the rise of private universities and liberal arts programs in India. We sat down with Nikhil Sinha, the vice chancellor at Shiv Nadar University, and Sanjeev Agrawal, the dean of studies, to find out more about why the university has chosen its interdisciplinary approach over the specializing method of most other Indian universities.
Some questions and answers have been edited, including for space and style.
Why do you feel it’s necessary for students to study a wide variety of subjects?
Mr. Agrawal: Whether you’re an economics or English major, you still have to take courses in things like history, biology and psychology in order to say you’ve had a well-rounded education. We aim for our students to be global citizens who are knowledgeable about many subjects, not just one.
Where do your professors come from?
Mr. Sinha: Despite the fact that the school is still in its early stages, professors from universities outside of India – from places like Harvard and Berkeley in the United States to Oxford in the United Kingdom – currently teach and continue to express interest in teaching at S.N.U. It’s an initiative that many want to be a part of building. Over 70 percent of our incoming faculty and half of our current faculty have either taught or studied abroad.
You can devise the right curricula, but unless you have the professors to back it up, you won’t get anywhere. I think many of them want to see this work.
Your students are required to do some kind of work over summer vacation. Can you tell us why that is?
Mr. Agrawal: We want our students to apply their studies to real-life situations, so they can also see where all their hard work is going. We feel the best way that can be done is through some kind of experience over the summer, whether that’s at an internship or doing research for a professor at the university or summer classes.
We want them to be able to compete alongside students from other universities in an international sense, and since many of those students are furthering their interests and working over summer while on break, we thought we’d make it a required part of our program so that they can have the same opportunities once they graduate.
Tell us a little bit about your plans for exchange programs.
Mr. Sinha: We’ve begun plans to collaborate with colleges in the United States for exchange programs and dual degrees, since that’s definitely something we’d like to offer our students and students abroad. We’ve been in contact with a few universities about students attending our university and theirs, and graduating with degrees from both schools. This will provide the students with experience both in India and overseas, and they’ll also have an easier time working abroad if that’s what they prefer. We want foreign students to look to S.N.U. one day as a place to come to study for all four years, not just for one year as exchange students.
For members of the Shiv Nadar University team, the road ahead is still long, but they feel it will be worth the wait.
“It will take some time before we’re able to offer everything we’d like to,” Mr. Agrawal said. “But our current students are really enjoying their courses, and the fact that they’re able to contribute to the making of the school curriculum and vision. A lot of feedback comes from them, and as long as they remain engaged and interested, we know we’re on the right track. Other universities are also beginning to be aware of that.”
This may be true. As the number of private universities continues to grow, public universities are beginning to follow their lead by offering interdisciplinary programs to their students. Examples of these universities include the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Delhi, which announced the opening of its four-year liberal arts program, Meta College, at the start of this semester.
According to The Indian Express, University of Delhi admissions officers received an “overwhelming response” from students eager to get into the program.
“We received over 100 applications just two days after making the announcement,” said the program co-coordinator, Madar Chaturvedi.
Over all, the S.N.U. team is confident that this new trend will continue to grow within India.
“It’s important that students aren’t forced to commit to a field of study right out of eighth grade,” Mr. Sinha said. “They should have choices, and they should be familiar with the kinds of opportunities that are out there for them. Not just in India, but all over the world.”
India Ink: In India, a Rise of Private Universities and Liberal Arts Programs
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