Dr. Kathleen Scherf, Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Culture, spent the last two weeks of her summer recruiting students in India into the new PDCL program in professional communication. The project is just one element of the faculty's emerging India outreach initiative.

Q: What was the impetus behind the India outreach initiative?

We began to research ways to generate revenue for the Faculty by offering components of the Master of Communication Studies program to students through distance learning and by leveraging our Internet Research Studio's capacity to do real time broadcasting. We researched the best markets to offer a component of the program as a post-degree continuous learning certificate (PDCL) and found India and China were both interested. In February 2006 we made an exploratory trip to meet with universities in both countries. We found more fertile ground in India not just for a PDCL program but also for other kinds of collaborations.

Q: What factors made India the place to begin a collaboration?

Students in India account for 20% of applications made to our MCS program each year. As well, in the last five years, the number of majors in our Development Studies program shot up to over 100 students from 20. Many of these students are interested in development issues in India. The faculty also has a strong research interests in this region, particularly in Dr. Aradhana Parmar who has SSHRC funding to research issues in water and development in India. Plus Indian outfits are great-no, just kidding.

Q: What made the University of Jammu the right partner for the PDCL?

In May we signed an agreement with the University of Jammu, India to offer the PDCL program in professional communication beginning in 2008. Two important reasons for partnering with U of J were: 1) The university has a dynamic president and vice-chancellor who has embraced international activities and 2) it has the technical infrastructure in place to collaborate with us in offering the program using distance learning technology. U of J is a service provider for the program. We provide the content, while U of J promotes and recruits students to the program and hosts students in their web lab. Jammu is in northern India and once the program is off the ground, we will be searching for another university partner in the south.

Q: What other kinds of collaborations make up the India outreach initiative?

We plan to expand our research collaborations with universities in India and to build curriculum with an Indian focus. Increased interest in our Development Studies program has led to us organizing and leading a workshop in winter 2008, which will include students, practitioners and organizations that hire DEST graduates.  The objective is curriculum development and preparation of students for development work in India: is our DEST curriculum doing as good a job as it can in preparing students for these kinds of careers, and if not, what more should we be doing. As well, since experiential learning is a hallmark of our faculty, we are planning to expand the co-op program and field schools into India. Just last summer, 20 DEST students visited India for a travel-study experience.

These are the starting points, but the opportunities are vast. My goal is learn how the university system works in India, extend the U of C brand and make contacts for the U of C to pursue future opportunities. And buy more Indian outfits.