With spring revitalizing Indiana University’s campuses across the state, opportunities are in bloom. This April, the Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum traveled with colleagues to India to renew the partnerships and connections with the country that more international students call home than any other. As part of the university’s efforts to strengthen its international connections, the IU India Gateway organized a series of events that brought together IU’s partners, alumni, and incoming students.
The India Gateway in Delhi helps to connect with IU’s partner institutions in India, supports IU faculty research, and student-focused activities, and assists in widening the alumni network globally. The IU delegation’s visit reaffirmed all of these goals, reinforcing the important role of the Gateway in India. It creates new avenues for research, university partnerships, conferences, workshops, and overseas study, building opportunities for faculty, students, companies, and the state of Indiana in India’s rapidly growing market.
A 12-member team from the Bloomington campus visited India including representatives from student recruitment, International Affairs, the Alumni Association, and multiple academic units. From first application to alumni status, every part of the student experience was represented, affording prospective students and parents direct access to faculty, alumni, and administrators.
“It was wonderful to reconnect in person with university partners, IU Alumni Association chapters, and IU families during this trip,” said Vice President Buxbaum. “These relationships are so critical in facilitating our research and teaching mission in the region, and I’m grateful for the work of the India Gateway team in deepening them.”
One of the highlights for Vice President Buxbaum was to welcome the admitted students to IU. The Gateway, led by Director Zafeena Suresh, helped coordinate four receptions for students and parents in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Bangalore. Over 200 parents and students attended these events across the four cities.
There was palpable excitement in Mumbai and Bangalore since it was IU’s first big welcoming event for new students in these cities representing a combined population of over 30 million. Participants appreciated the individual attention and excitement the IU group brought to the space, even overflowing one venue. One parent noted that their child had been accepted to three other prestigious U.S. universities, but IU was the only one who came to them, a fact that weighed heavily in the student’s final decision. The Gateway looks forward to building on these events to reach an even wider student audience in the coming years.
Future Hoosiers were not the only students highlighted on this visit. The India Gateway helped organize alumni events across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Pune. The IU team was able to connect with around 70 alumni in total and welcome new additions to the IU family. There were alumni who flew down from Delhi to Mumbai just to connect with more alums. They were also an active part of the new student events and interacted with both students and parents.
Keeping in mind the goal of building partnerships with institutions in India, VP Hannah Buxbaum, AVP Shawn Reynolds, and Professor Purnima Bose, met with members of the leadership teams at OP Jindal University Sonepat, FLAME University Pune, and Ambedkar University Delhi to renew long-term connections and deepen academic engagements.
Reaffirming existing partnerships was not the only academic success on this visit; a new academic exchange also took place with Professor Purnima Bose giving a lecture at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi on the theme, Withdrawal Narratives: Afghan Women and Developmental Idealism. This was very well received by both PhD scholars and faculty in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and generated discussions to organize a set of academic conversations in collaboration with Ambedkar University Delhi, IIT Delhi, and IU during the upcoming fall semester.
Indeed, making new connections and the blossoming of fruitful relationships was a theme of the entire visit. The IU Global delegation met with the leadership team at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, where they discussed the potential for future collaborations like joint degrees, academic research, and seminars which would enhance IU’s formidable research portfolio while opening new avenues of student and faculty engagement. Leaders also met with the Fulbright Commission in Delhi exploring potential engagements with Indiana University that could bring premiere researchers to Indiana.
After years of virtual gatherings, bringing together alumni and incoming students helped to rekindle the IU spirit; both old and new. The high attendance and success of these events indicated that Indiana University, with the support of the Gateway, is on the right track reaching out to more cities across India. By investing in the world’s second most populous country, IU positions itself as a leader in student success, research initiatives, and innovation that spans the globe. Until the next visit, the IU India Gateway will be at home in New Delhi continuing to cultivate the connections made and fortified by this trip.
The full delegation included the following:
- Vice President of Internationa Affairs & Professor of Law, Hannah Buxbaum
- Associate Vice President of International Affairs, Shawn Reynolds
- Professor of English & Academic Director of the IU India Gateway, Purnima Bose
- Director of Global Engagement at Indiana University Alumni Association, Roy Thomas Hooper
- Associate Director of Global Engagement at Indiana University Alumni Association, Paige Thomas Associate Director of Office of International Services, James Quill
- Lecturer of Informatics at IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing & Engineering, Chase McCoy Senior Associate Director of Admissions at Kelley School of Business, Jan Bents
- Director, Office of Scholarships, Emily Arth
- Associate Director of Undergraduate Recruiting at IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing & Engineering, Lauren Headley
- Senior Director of International Advancement at Kelley School of Business, Fred Perry
- Director, Community Engaged Learning, IU School of Education, Una Thacker
Ready to connect with the India Gateway? Learn about existing partnerships and opportunities on the Gateway webpage.
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