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Please suggest topics or questions that you would like us to cover in this blog. We would also love to hear from you if you would like to blog for us.
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Tag Archives: research and teaching
Feeling English, Thinking Teaching: Language Workshops in Calcutta
Over the last four weeks, I have had the great pleasure of being invited to conduct English language and theatre workshops at Union Chapel School in Calcutta.
I teach two groups of students in the fifteen to sixteen year age group, all of whom have a first language background in either Hindi or Bengali (Hindi is the national language of India, and Bengali is the language of the state of West Bengal). When I asked my students how they related to English – and if they felt that they were dealing with a foreign language, I got some interesting answers. Read More
View from Calcutta: Indian universities and the UK
Over the next few blogs I will seek to provide an overview of the educational climate in India, and the extent to which international alliances are changing or are likely to change the university experience .
Why are British universities seeking to find a presence in India?
The Indian government has plans to increase the number of university goers from a current 12 per cent of the population to 30 per cent. In plain terms this works out to a present university student population of 12 million, and a projected increase to 30 million.
I want to present a side to the global impact of the ongoing changes in the Indian university system that is seldom seen in the media.
That is, what is the university experience in India from the point of view of the student and the lecturer?
Let’s Talk: Meeting Dr. Ritu Mahendru
Let’s Talk resumes its interview series with higher education professionals, and is delighted to welcome Dr. Ritu Mahendru. Ritu has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Kent (2010) and authored the book: “Young People’s Perceptions of Gender, Risk and AIDS: A comparative analysis of India and the UK (2010).
First off, many congratulations on completing your doctorate in Sociology. Would you like to comment on your early career experiences now that you’ve got it under your belt? What are your career plans, and what do you think of the present job market in the UK and outside it? Read More
Tagged: activist, being human, Britain, career building, critical, diaspora, doctorate, gender, higher education professionals, humanities, India, international development, living in two countries, marginalization, migration, priyali ghosh, public health, publishing, research, research and teaching, ritu mahendru, sexual health, social sciences, sociology, south asian, South Asian Sexual Health Forum, voice
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India and the UK: Joint University Programmes the Way Forward?
The Indian economy like the Chinese economy is expanding. India, like China, is investing heavily in education. New schools and universities are being founded at a steady rate.British universities are looking to these two countries for expansion.
Are we going to see British students no longer simply taking a gap year in India but living and studying there in significant numbers?
Is your department or university considering a move East? Read More
After the Riots: Your Inner Polymath
In my previous post I mentioned the MacTaggart lecture delivered in Edinburgh last week by Eric Schmidt who is the chairman of Google, in the same breath that I expressed my individual questions and distress in response to the rioting we have witnessed so recently.
It may seem strange to link the two things but I hope it will become clear why I am.
As reported in The Guardian last Saturday Mr. Schmidt said, “Over the past century the UK has stopped nurturing its polymaths. You need to bring art and science back together.”
Read More
Research and Teaching: the Second Stretch
From amongst a wide circle of friends and colleagues who are both research active and teaching-active – to coin a new phrase – I’d say it’s extremely important to acknowledge that flexibility is both a personal and professional good. A friend who was awarded her doctorate in 2006 found a permanent teaching post within twelve months of completing. Her lectureship was not in History which was her “home” discipline if you like but in Criminology – she was able to develop a subsidiary interest into one which she could use as a foundation for her career. Read More
Research and Teaching: the Stretch
In this post I want to talk about the relationship between your research and your teaching.
Be flexible and be open to the opportunities around you – don’t shy away because you think it’s not what you trained to do. Let your research self breathe and your teaching self too – they need to not be frozen into one place and one time in an infinite universe. Read More
