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International Exeter
annual report
2013/14
partnership engagement
India
Exeter’s decision in 2011 to establish a presence in India,
in partnership with Sannam S4 in Bangalore, has helped the
University sustain and enhance its partnership engagement
in the country. While international student recruitment
remains a large focus of the two members of staff working
in country (see p8), partnership engagement remains a core
part of the mission.
The link between the National Institute of Advanced
Studies (NIAS) and Exeter’s College of Humanities
continues to flourish; in particular, the UKIERI-funded
jointly supervised NIAS-Exeter PhD project has prospered
in the past year. The first two cohorts of participating
students now comprise ten students of four different
nationalities, and they are taking full advantage of the
opportunities provided by additional supervision from
NIAS and fieldwork in India. The first cohort of six
students, who started their doctoral studies in Drama and
Archaeology in September 2012, successfully upgraded
from MPhil to PhD in April 2014. The second cohort of
four students is making good progress, while a third cohort
of two students, one each in Drama and Archaeology,
has been recruited and the students will commence
their studies at Exeter in September 2014. Our doctoral
candidates are researching a wide range of topics, including
archaeometallurgy in Telangana, heritage walks in Delhi,
and the modern phenomenon of flashmobs in Indian cities.
In a good example of the synergies permitted by our
Bangalore base, Professor Andrew Thorpe, the Dean of
Humanities at Exeter was invited by the Indian Institute
of Science (IISc) student group “Concern”, which runs a
programme of speaker meetings on social and political
issues, to give a talk on “The British Left and India:
1918–1947” and which drew a good audience of students
and staff. In April 2014 Professor Thorpe also hosted a
presentation on ‘British Left and India – 1918 to 1947’
to staff and students at Bangalore University.
Also in April 2014, Jain University hosted a three-day
workshop on material culture, organised in collaboration
with Exeter and NIAS. Professor Choodamani Nandagopal
(Dean, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Jain
University) chaired the event, with contributions from
NIAS’s Professor Sharada Srinivasan and Exeter’s Professor
Bruce Bradley and Dr Gill Juleff. As well as promoting
staff interaction, the event provided an opportunity
for NIAS-Exeter PhD students to network with their
counterparts at Jain. Professor Choodamani is also part
of the Leverhulme-funded research network project
“The Culture of the Suburbs”, led by Dr Jo Gill (English).
Since the signing of the MoU with the National Law School
of India University (NLSIU) in March 2013 collaboration
continues apace. In December 2013, Dr Michael
Sanderson, Director of Exeter’s LLM in International
Human Rights Law delivered a lecture to the NLS Law
Review annual symposium on the theme of International
Law and Refugee Protection in India.
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