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South Asia-related project at Harvard University

Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S. founded in 1636, has unveiled plans for a major expansion of research and education related to South Asia.

The plans, developed by scholars and administrators from across the university and leaders from the public and private sectors, come a month after Drew Gilpin Faust was installed President of Harvard, the university said in a release.

She said: “Our unprecedented expansion of scholarly engagement with the people, cultures, institutions, and economies of South Asia will enable us to contribute to the continued development of this critically important region while simultaneously learning from its rich past.”

The initial objectives are to increase the number of professors whose focus includes research related to the region; expand financial support and scholarships for students from South Asia accepted at Harvard; accelerate research related to the region by Harvard scholars, and facilitate travel to and from South Asia for students and scholars from the university.

The other objectives include increasing the number of researchers, scholars, and students from South Asia who come to study, teach, and learn at Harvard; establishing more partnerships with universities and other organisations in South Asia with which Harvard may partner, and strengthening the South Asian community.

The implementation will be guided by a steering committee comprising eight scholars from across the university. Its members are Prof. Sugata Bose, Director of the South Asia Initiative and the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Prof. Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Humanities Center at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Prof. Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School; Prof. Jennifer Leaning, professor of the Practice of International Health at the School of Public Health; Prof. Krishna G. Palepu, Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for International Development at the Harvard Business School; Prof. Rohini Pande, Mohamed Kamal Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government; Prof. Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor; and Prof. Leonard van der Kuijp, Professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Prof. Sen said: “India may well be seen, in today’s public discussion, merely as China’s alter-ego, but South Asia’s long history and rich traditions deserve serious study, for which Harvard can be a wonderful base.”

Harvard has received gifts of $1 million or more to support its expansion related to South Asia.

These include a gift from Sanjeev K. and Karen Petersen Mehra to endow the Mehra Family Professorship of South Asian Studies, and gifts from Arvind Raghunathan, Anand Mahindra, Mala Gaonkar Haarmann, Victor J. Menezes, Vikram Gandhi, and Eshwar Das.

South Asian students represent one of the largest groups who come to Harvard from outside the U.S.; the numbers from India alone already exceed those from Germany, France, and Japan or the U.K.

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South Asia-related project at Harvard University

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