Students from the city attend summer school conducted by Kings College London without even leaving the city. SHRADDHA KAMDAR reports
T his summer, HR College of Commerce and Economics donned a new role. That of playing host to Sum
mer School, one of the citys firsts, bringing courses from Kings College London, to city students. The summer school was an initiative of Think Education, creating an opportunity for about 120 undergrads to participate in four courses, each taught over a period of two weeks.
Students this year, could choose from International Political Economy, International Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Quantitative Methods and Statistics ( see box), obtaining a certification from one of Englands most prestigious and historic university institutions.
The idea behind the summer school is to bring courses to students at a fraction of the cost, not compromising on the quality of education or the number of contact hours. The subsidisation of courses is possible due to increase in intake of students, so that the total cost can be distributed over a larger number.
Dr Indu Shahani, Principal of HR College, and Sheriif of Mumbai, was prompted by several motives to host the summer school at HR. ” This primarily gives those students who cannot travel abroad for higher education a chance to acquire global skills at their door step. In fact, three of our peons have their children here as part of the scholarship programme in the summer school.
What better opportunity can we have than this for inclusive education? When are they ever going to have a chance to earn a diploma from Kings College?” she states. She further elaborates that many of the professors and lecturers at HR College are also sitting in at the lectures, which enables a lot of capacity building. ” Our curriculum and methods tend to be a bit more theory- oriented, and theirs is a practical curriculum, so our teachers can experience firsthand how to integrate practical examples within the classes,” Dr Shahani adds.
Students attending summer school say that they are ” learning like they have never leant before.” The experience in these classes is quite a refreshing change from the alt39 bookish knowledgealt39 they are used to. And doing be the range and depth of questions that were posed to one of the faculty members delivering a lecture on the Eurozone crisis, students here are definitely abreast with their subject matter, and free thinkers, a rare quality one may find in commerce students across the country. The summer Happenings
schools programme was so sought after, that it was full within a few days of word being out, and even though there were more students interested, there was no scope to fit them in.
The visiting professors, too, are adding to their repertoire of experiences. Although Knowledge missed Dr Finola Kerrigan and Akram Shalabi, who taught International Marketing and Quantitative Methods and Statistics respectively in the first session that ended a week back, we were able to catch up with the other two. Dr Ramon Pacheco Pardo, teaching International Political Economy in the second session, says he worked hard to modify his course content to make it more topical and contemporary in an Indian scenario. ” I added two lectures exclusively on India to enhance the studentsalt39 experience,” he says.
So did Michael Oalt39Neil Bedward, who is teaching Entrepreneurship in the second session. He conducted a lot of desk research to integrate the current happenings in entrepreneurship in India, citing Indian examples, so that students have a certain degree of familiarity when they are in class. Going a step further, upon his arrival in India and commencement of classes, he modifies his daily presentation to suit the local flavour. For instance, when talking of team work last week, he took the examples of the Mumbai Indians! Despite the fact that the long hours of sessions and constant revision of course work allows them little time to explore aamchi Mumbai, both Dr Pardo as well
