Press release: Göttingen University inaugurates Centre for Modern Indian Studies

Nr. 247/2010 - 03.12.2010

Interdisciplinary research on modern India – Bachelor and Master degree programmes launched

(pug) The University of Göttingen has officially inaugurated its Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS). At this new Centre, academics working in the humanities and the economic and social sciences are examining modern India’s dynamic social, political and economic development. A newly conceived teaching programme encompassing Bachelor and Master study programmes was launched at the start of the 2010/2011 winter semester. “In the mid-term, we envisage the CeMIS to become one of the leading institutions for modern Indian research in the international context”, says University President Prof. Dr. Kurt von Figura. “As a competence centre focused on the India of today, research, training, political advising and public information activities are to be cultivated there.” An important integral element of the Centre for Modern Indian Studies is the cooperation with selected Indian universities and research institutions. “The thematic and interdisciplinary approach taken by the CeMIS makes it stand out from the majority of centres for Indian studies in Germany and Europe. This facilitates fruitful cooperation with academics all over the world”, points out Prof. Dr. Raghunath Shevgaonkar, Vice Chancellor of Göttingen’s partner university in India, the University of Pune.

Over the coming years, the federal state of Lower Saxony will be supporting the CeMIS with funding amounting to a total of five million euros. Dr. Josef Lange, State Secretary in the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, states: “The CeMIS and the intensification of the Asia focus constitute great gains for the University of Göttingen. Interdisciplinary regional centres are the most productive way of bundling competence in regional research. By setting up the CeMIS and the new Centre for Modern East Asian Studies, this focus is being placed on a sustainable footing for the future. Moreover, the close cooperation with non-university partners such as the Göttingen Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity promises to yield outstanding results and a further boost to Göttingen’s excellence.” As well as working together with the Centre for Modern East Asian Studies and the Max Planck Institute, the CeMIS will collaborate closely with the Courant Research Centre “Poverty, Equity and Growth in Developing Countries” set up by the University of Göttingen with funding through the Excellence Initiative.

Six new professorships are being established at the CeMIS by Göttingen University. Since July 2009, the holder of the chair “Modern Indian History” and Executive Director of the Centre is Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja. Appointed to the chair “Development Economics in India” is Prof. Dr. Ashok Rai, who has held the position since October of this year. Ethnologist Prof. Dr. Kim Gutschow has accepted the offer of the chair “Ethnology of Public Health with a Regional Focus on South Asia”, as from August 2011. Prof. Dr. Rupa Viswanath, an expert in the area of religious studies, has received the offer of the chair “Indian Religions” and professorial appointment procedures are currently in progress for the positions covering “Society and Culture of Modern India” and “State and Democracy in Modern India”.

The 2010/2011 winter semester sees the CeMIS bringing into operation a newly designed teaching programme encompassing a Bachelor and Master study programmes. An international doctoral programme is currently under development. Both new study programmes consist of interdisciplinary courses taught by members of the CeMIS, visiting lecturers from throughout the world and scholars at the faculties of the humanities, social sciences and economic sciences of the University of Göttingen. The Bachelor degree course “Interdisziplinäre Indienstudien” combines country-specific content with economic, ethnological, political and historical perspectives on modern India. The Master degree programme “Modern Indian Studies”, which is taught in English, offers a unique opportunity for students from all over the world to pursue a course dealing intensively with India’s development, culture and society. Students taking the Bachelor degree course are recommended to spend one semester studying in India, while for those on the Master’s programme a study stay at an Indian university is an integral part of the programme.

With a view to promoting further exchange among academics and students, Göttingen University has set up numerous cooperations with leading universities and research institutions throughout India, since opening its foreign liaison office at the Indian University of Pune in 2008. These include cooperation arrangements with the renowned School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and with the University of Delhi to which the Delhi School of Economics belongs. In all, 26 cooperation projects linking institutions at the University of Göttingen with Indian partner institutions currently exist, involving more than 50 Göttingen professors. Further projects are in planning, among them an international collaborative research centre and two international research training groups. The number of students travelling to India from Göttingen has climbed from four in 2008 to 20 in 2010, and Indian students in Göttingen now number 70, compared to 45 in 2007. Moreover, 70 Indian scientists and scholars are currently undertaking research in Göttingen. These figures are expected to rise further in future.

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Hiltraud Casper-Hehne
Vizepräsidentin der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Göttingen
Telefon (0551) 39-12184, Fax (0551) 39-4520
E-Mail: hiltraud.casper-hehne@zvw.uni-goettingen.de
Internet: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/110984.html

Prof. Dr. Ravi Ahuja
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Zentrum für Moderne Indienstudien
Waldweg 26, 37073 Göttingen
Telefon (0551) 39-19927, Fax (0551) 39-14215
E-Mail: ravi.ahuja@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Internet: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/133929.html