The Division of International Programs Abroad is constantly trying to allow Syracuse University students the chance to explore and learn in a variety of countries. In accordance with this goal, DIPA has added India as another country for students to study abroad in as soon as this upcoming fall semester.

The hiring of Susanne Wadley, the assistant dean in The College of Arts and Sciences and a Ford Maxwell professor of South Asian studies, set expanding the study abroad programs in motion. Wadley is also an anthropologist with a specialty in Indian culture and tradition.

‘We’ve never had a program abroad in India. Someone had to take the leap to make that happen,’ Wadley said. ‘India’s amazing because it pushes you harder than going to Europe does or going to Hong Kong does in terms of challenging you to think about your assumptions about the world.’

The program will begin next semester due to a collaboration with Emory University, the University of Washington and the University of Iowa, which has had a study-abroad program in India in existence for the last six years.

SU expects the program to start off slow and plans for around five students to be the first to participate. Yet, through word of mouth, Wadley said she hopes those numbers will double within a year and stay constant.

The program will begin in mid-August with an eight-week teaching period, during which students will take three courses, including a course on Indian language.

The program is going to target every college on campus but focus on specifically on women’s studies, anthropology, political science, business, sociology, film and language courses, according to a DIPA press release. The program will also focus on the effects of globalization on India’s traditional culture, Wadley said.

‘DIPA is encouraging students to think beyond traditions and study elsewhere,’ said Jon Booth, deputy director of DIPA. ‘India is historically an emerging player on the world scene. It’s useful for Americans to understand India and its people and culture because we’re becoming more and more contact with them in our daily life.’

Within the program, Wadley will lead a two-week field study that will take all the students from their home base in southern India to Rajasthan in the Northwest. There, students will view local villages and towns which are inhabited by struggling craft artists trying to keep their culture alive in the face of modern society.

The program will conclude with an internship or a research project on some aspect of the subject they have been studying while in India.

‘I hope students will be getting a sense of the challenges that traditional craft communities face,’ Wadley said. ‘How global marketing is playing a role in maintaining a livelihood in other parts of the world.’

DIPA’s newest program will also be its cheapest. While tuition will remain the same at $12,860, the program fee is only $2,400. The program fees for the London and Italy programs are $6,225 and $7,050, respectively, according to the Web site. The program fee includes room, board, food and the cost of the seminar. The facilities are promised to be first-class in terms of the dormitories in South India, Wadley said.

‘Americans don’t go to India as they go to other places,’ said Amanda Goldman, a junior psychology major. ‘Italy and London seem like a normal distention, but India seems like it would be a lot more eye-opening culturally for Americans.’

Wadley said she has high hopes for its latest addition to its study abroad curriculum, and expects it to succeed next fall and for the years to come.

‘India is an incredible country with wonderful people, and it’s such a different place than America,’ she said. ‘India opens people’s eyes to the rest of the world and I am delighted that we are offering this now.’

Published on March 2, 2005 at 12:00 pm