Joint Swedish masters program on South Asian studies

On the photo from left to right: Lars Eklund, SASNET/Lund University; Henrik Berglund, Stockholm University; Åke Sander, University of Gothenburg; Julia Velkova, SASNET/Lund University; Kristina Myrvold, Lund University; Anna Lindberg, SASNET/Lund University; Gunnel Cederlöf, Uppsala University; Pernille Gooch, Lund University; Jan Magnusson, Lund University; and Sigridur Beck, University of Gothenburg.

On Tuesday 18 October 2011, SASNET hosted a first meeting at Lund University between representatives of South Asia oriented research within Humanities and Social Sciences at the universities of Stockholm, Uppsala, Gothenburg and Lund. The constructive meeting aimed to discuss increased collaboration on South Asian studies between these four major Swedish universities, and possibilities for launching a joint Swedish Masters programme in South Asian studies.
At Uppsala University a Forum for South Asian Studies was formed recently (more information), and at Stockholm University a Forum for Asian Studies was formed in 2010 (more information). At University of Gothenburg the researchers are involved in the Go:India project launched in May 2011 (more information); and at Lund University SASNET is the driving force in connecting researchers working on South Asia related projects in all disciplines. 

After this initial meeting, a second gathering took place on 8 February 2012, this time hosted by the University of Gothenburg at the Faculty of Arts, where Åke Sander, Clemens Cavallin and Sigridur Beck represented the hosts. SASNET, who initiated the discussion about developing such a program in Sweden, was represented by its director, Anna Lindberg and its assistant webmaster, Julia Velkova. Kristina Miolin from the International Secretariat of Lund University was also specially invited to share her expertise on the practical and administrative issues related to setting up a Masters program between several Swedish universities. Other participants in this second meeting were Per-Olof Fjällsby from the Department of History at Karlstad University, and Ferdinando Sardella, coordinator of the Forum for Southasian studies at Uppsala University. 

After an intensive discussion there was made a preliminary draft of courses to be offered as part of the program. Important part of the discussion was also the structure and formal implementation of such a Masters program. The discussions will now continue online and it will be worked on developing a joint description and argumentation of the program. More information to follow.