‘A great university in this century must be a global university’
The University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA, has had a strong relationship with India for decades, with desi students currently the fastest-growing community there. This bond was strengthened in 2014, when the university established formal academic ties with St Xavier’s College, Mumbai; St Stephen’s College, New Delhi; and the Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay.
This was followed by the setting up of the Mumbai Global Center in 2016, which works to facilitate faculty delegations and scholarly exchanges, student visits and guest lectures. Since 2015, the University of Notre Dame has hosted 43 high school students from 11 schools across India at the International Leadership, Enrichment and Development summer study programme.
University provost Thomas Burish talks to about the enriching of these ties, the university’s programmes and all it has to offer international students.
Tell us a little about what makes notre dame unique
Notre Dame is a mediumsized private Catholic research university. We focus on educating the whole person. Recently, when we asked students from India at the university about their experience, they shared how apart from their courses they were helped by the emphasis on moral leadership and extra-curricular activities.
What kinds of opportunities can indian students look forward to at the varsity?
In terms of financial support, Notre Dame provides both need- and merit-based scholarships.
Apart from that, there are different kinds of courses that Indian students can find useful. There are institutions like the Keough School of Global Affairs, which includes institutes focused on Asia and Asian studies, and democratisation. Interestingly, students coming to the university are often more interested in learning about other parts of the world than that which they are coming from. For example, we have a lot of international students taking American history. International students are also attracted to courses on big data analytics and coding.
What is the nature of the collaborations with indian institutes?
In multiple disciplines, researchers have active communication with India. Big data analytics and nuclear physics are taught by Indian-origin faculty and they keep communicating with Indian institutes. Our research on malaria — a lot of cases of which is found in India — is among the strongest in our country.
What kinds of incentives are there for research aspirants?
The approach of Notre Dame is different from most institutes, considering we focus on the complete development of the student. Usually it is taken for granted that a PhD student will be an academic. But that is not always the case and they can go on to work in different fields. We work on other sides of a student’s growth too, which prepares them for non-academic professions. Another draw for international students is the opportunity to know about more places than the country of the university. Notre Dame is third among research universities in the United States, in terms of sending students to other countries. So students from India who come to Notre Dame often get opportunities to travel to other countries too.
how do you see the future and future role of notre dame?
No university can be a great university for the 21st century unless it is an international university and a global university. For that you need students from all over the world and to send them to other parts. India has the second-largest population in the world and the students fit in with the values of our university. We will be visiting schools and colleges to meet students and in the process get more students at the university.