Education Related News


Afghani teacher students visited Karlstad University

The first batch of students resulting from a unique education initiative came from Afghanistan to Karlstad University on April 15, 2013 and stayed for two weeks. The thirteen teacher students presented their Master's theses at the university as well as met with Swedish teacher students and visited local schools in Karlstad. Some of the  students also held open lectures and talked about education in Afghanistan and the situation for women in the country. 
The students are approaching the end of the first part of the Teacher Educators Master Program (TEMP), a unique project and collaboration between the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan, The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and Karlstad University with the aim to improve the quality of teacher's education in Afghanistan. The programme is coordinated by Dr. Pia Karlsson and Dr. Amir Mansory, both at the Dept. of Educational Work, Organisation and Society at Karlstad University. 
The education programme is one and a half or two and a half years and includes theory and practice around learning and general didactics as well as subject specific didactics, and during 2012-2014, approximately 80 teacher's trainers will be educated. A priority group is women, and among the 13 students who will visit Karlstad University, four are women. 
The students are enrolled at the University of Karlstad, but training takes place at the National Academy of the Teacher Education Department in Kabul. Part of the training is done online, but teachers from Karlstad University is in place in Afghanistan at the beginning of each course. For more information you may contact either of the Programme Coordinators, pia.karlsson@kau.se or amir.mansory@kau.se.


WMU invites applicants to its Master of Science (M.Sc.) Programme in Maritime Affairs

World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden, invites applications from students to join its Master of Science (M.Sc.) Programme in Maritime Affairs. Students joining WMU in 2013 will follow a modernized, intensive postgraduate program lasting 14 months. The pre-sessional English and Study Skills program starts 24 June 2013, and The standard M.Sc. program starts 16 September 2013, with graduation in November the following year. Students who already hold a postgraduate qualification can apply for the 11-months program that begins 13 January 2014. The students can specialize in one of six different areas: 
1. Shipping Management & Logistics; 2. Port Management; 3. Maritime Safety & Environmental Administration; 4. Maritime Law & Policy; 5. Marine Environmental & Ocean Management; 6. Maritime Education & Training. 
There is no deadline for application submission, however, if you are applying for donor funding, you should  submit your application as early as possible. More information.


Indian Counsellor met Lund University students and researchers for meeting

In connection to his participation in the SASNET South Asia Symposium on April 24th, 2013, Mr. J.P. Meena – Counsellor (Political, Consular, Information & Press) at the Embassy of India in Stockholm, had invited Indian students at Lund University to meet him on the evening before, that is Tuesday 23 April. The meeting was held in the basement lounge of the university’s Division of External Relations (ER), Stora Algatan 4. Mr Meena was accompanied by Lars Eklund, SASNET deputy director.
Students on all levels and from any discipline were welcome to the meeting, that had been planned for by SASNET and the Division of External Relations on behalf of the Embassy of India. Snacks were served, thanks to generous host for the evening, Mr. Henrik Hofvendahl, Program Officier at the Strategic Partnerships and Networks, Division of External Relations.


Linnaeus Palme grants to 29 South Asia related collaboration projects

In mid-March 2013, the Swedish International Programme Office for Education and Training decided upon the thirteenth round of Linnaeus Palme Exchange Programme grants, for the period 1 July 2013 – 30 June 2014. A total amount of SEK 42 Million will be distributed to 214 educational academic collaboration projects. The grants are funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Out of 214 projects given grants, 2 relates to collaboration with university departments in Bangladesh, 22 with India, 3 with Nepal, and 2 with Sri Lanka. Please note that SASNET provides additional value. Not only do we provide the decisions proper, but for most of the Swedish departments involved, SASNET has produced specially designed presentation pages with detailed information about the researchers and teachers involved in South Asia related projects within the specific department. (Altogether SASNET currently provides extensive information about South Asia projects at more than 300 Swedish university departments, a unique material, go for it.
Among new South Asia related projects being provided grants could be mentioned collaboration initiated between Department for Social Sciences at Ersta Sköndal Högskola/Loyola College for Social Sciences; Centre of Gender Studies, Lund University/Delhi School of Economics; School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalens Högskola/Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; and Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences/Forest Research Institute University, Dehradun. More information about the South Asia related 2013/14 Linnaeus Palme grants.


Apply for Heidelberg’s master's programme on Health and Society in South Asia

Masters programme

Since 2008, the South Asia Institute at University of Heidelberg, Germany, runs an interdisciplinary Master's programme entitled ”Health and Society in South Asia” (MAHASSA). The programme is a taught, two-year interdisciplinary degree with a focus on Medical Anthropology and South Asian Studies. 
 It is integrated with the curriculum of Heidelberg University’s South Asia Institute, allowing students to integrate South Asian languages, geography, politics, etc. into their plan of study. Most students base their Masters Thesis on field research conducted in South Asia. The language of instruction is English. The programme is intended for students who plan to work (or already work) in health-related fields but also for those who wish to pursue an academic career. The programme is administered by the Dept. of Anthropology at the South Asia Institute, specializing in Medical Anthropology, with various staff members conducting research on ritual healing, folk medicine, South Indian medicine, health and environment, Ayurveda, Tibetan Medicine, gender and health, women's reproductive health and Islam, and other topics.
The programme combines Medical Anthropology with South Asian Studies. Medical Anthropology is the study of healing systems, not primarily in terms of scientific theories or health policies, but also focusing on and analyzing how they are practiced in concrete, socio-cultural contexts. Admissions for the next program starting in October 2013 is now open and applications should have reached the University before 15 June 2013. More information about MAHASSA. 


Three students won Challenge Yourself India 2013 competition

Three Indian students won the first prize in the Challenge Yourself India 2013 competition, jointly organised the Swedish Embassy in Delhi, the Swedish Institute, and three Swedish universities – Lund University, Linköping University and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. The winners are Raghavendra Selvan from Bangalore, Rudra Pratap Singh from Guwahati and and Sowmya Krishnaraj from Chennai.
Raghavendra won a full scholarship to study a two-year master's programme in Communications Engineering at Chalmers. Rudra Pratap will study a two-year master's programme in wireless communication at Lund University and Sowmya will study a two-year master's programme in statistics and data mining at Linköping University. The scholarship includes tuition fee, living expenses, health insurance and a travel grant. The total monetary value of the scholarship is nearly INR 3.6 m. The students received their awards from the Ambassador of Sweden to India, H.E. Mr Harald Sandberg. The competition attracted over 5 000 participants. The online competition was created, marketed and run by Student Competitions, a Swedish company founded in 2010 by students. More information.


2013 NCI summer courses on Contemporary India and Nature–Society Interface

The Nordic Centre in India university consortium organises two short term summer courses for Nordic students in India during the summer 2013, one based at Hyderabad and the other at Bangalore. The courses are as follows:

NCIContemporary India. An Interdisciplinary Introduction Course. This course is being held for the 11th year at the University of Hyderabad during the period 30 June – 27 July 2013. It is tailor-made for 50 Nordic students and introduces issues of politics, culture and economy. It consists of the following five parts:
– Introductory course
– The diversity of India
– The political system and questions of identity
– Globalisation and the economy focusing on the city of Hyderabad
– Development, environment and human rights, and
– Indian literature and cinema.

ISECApproaching the Environment in India. Issues and Methods in the Study of the Nature-Economy-Society Interface. This course is being held for the 7th year at the  Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) in Bangalore during the period 7 July – 3 August 2013. Capacity: 22 students, getting an introduction to recent theories and methods in the study of contemporary environmental issues in India.

Both courses are available in the 7.5 ECTS variant and the 10 ECTS variant. The course structure remains the same with the exception of additional coursework for students opting for the 10 ECTS variant.
Typically each member university within the NCI consortim has their own deadline, so there is no general overarching deadline for receiving students nominations. But NCI wants to receive the names of interested students and their details by March 31st, 2013 so that the students, host institutes, and NCI have enough time to make practical arrangements for the course. Interested students can also independently approach NCI if they have missed their university deadline.
Given the unequal demand among the member universities and with the goal of filling all the seats being offered in the three courses NCI has changed the limit of nominations. The number may be more than just three students as was the earlier practice. If there are more students than required for the course NCI will look at member university/institute representation and the academic qualifications of the competing students to finally decide who gets selected.
More information on the NCI web page, http://www.nordiccentreindia.com/
or directly from the Programme Manager, Ms. Christabel Royan.


Nordic Hindi Study Centre in Varanasi now run by independent public trust

In 2011, former Nordic Centre in India (NCI) coordinator Dr. Mirja Juntunen introduced a Hindi Study Programme in Varanasi, India, mainly for Hindi/Indology students from her then home university Stockholm, but also for students from other NCI member universities such as Oslo and Aarhus. The programme was initially run by NCI in collaboration with the Gandhian Institute of Studies. From 2012, the organisational structure has been changed. The programme is now run by the Centre for the Study of Indian Languages and Society, a public trust set up to organise Hindi studies in an organised way in modern and well-equipped premises in a new building. Dr. Juntunen, now working at Aarhus University, is the Academic Director for the Centre, whereas Mr. John Moldén works as Programme Manager during 2012, handling the day-to-day affairs and planning for the courses in collaboration with Mr. Binit Kumar Mishra, Hindi teacher employed on a permanent basis (on photo together).
The Centre currently receives students from Aarhus, Oslo, Uppsala and Stockholm. With the changed organisational structure, as a trust independent of the Nordic Centre in India university consortium, the Centre may even approach universities and students from non-Nordic countries. More information in a report by SASNET’s Lars Eklund.


Indo-Swedish collaboration on the use of puppets in education

Dr. Forsberg AhlcronaIn her research, Dr. Mirella Forsberg Ahlcrona at the School of Humanities and Informatics, University of Skövde, focuses on communication and language development in pre-school children and on the use of puppets as a mediating tool in early childhood education. Since 2011 she has been involved in an ongoing Indo-Swedish collaboration project on those subjects and has visited India twice during this period, last time in June-July 2012.
Among other engagements during her visits, she has arranged workshops and courses for Indian teachers, and in 2013 a number of Indian teachers are planned to visit Skövde and hold workshops on Storytelling in Education for students at the Puppet Education programme (Dockpedagogutbildningen), which is administered by Dr. Forsberg Ahlcrona. 
In the latest Issue of the Indian educational magazine Learning Curve (Issue XVIII), she has an article published on the theme of Arts in School Education. More on Dr. Forsberg Ahlcrona's research and her Indo-Swedish collaborations here.


Indo-Swedish MoU on Youth Masters Program on Sustainable Development

In connection with the Stockholm +40 – International Conference on Sustainable Living and Innovative Solutions, held in April 2012, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Environmental Education was signed between Swedish and Indian institutions. The agreement concerns the successful Youth Masters Programme on Sustainable Development, developed and run for several years by the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University. The programme offers global, free of charge online education for upper-secondary students and their teachers. More information about the Masters programme.
The Indian collaboration partner is the Centre of Environmental Education (CEE). It was established in 1984 as a Centre of Excellence supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Being a national institution with its headquarters in Ahmedabad, CEE has a mandate to promote environmental awareness nationwide.
The MoU was signed by Mr. Kartikeya Sarabhai, Director and Founder of CEE, and Mr. Anders Wijkman who is the Chairman of the Board, Internationella Stiftelsen Young Masters Programme (YMP). Indian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Ashok Sajjanhar attended the signing ceremony (see photo above).
The specific aim of the Indo-Swedish cooperation is to reach high-school students, aged about 16-18 years, with distance education on sustainable development in order to enhance the understanding of sustainability issues and approaches to support social development and sustainable solutions nationally and globally. The scope of the activity covered by this MoU is the facilitation of YMP in India between 2012-2016. 

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