Contemporary India:
Development, Environment, Public Health

Our vision is for this program is to introduce U.S. undergraduates to some of the most dynamic, exciting areas of Indian society, politics, economics, and culture today. Environmental issues, development, social justice, economics and public health are areas in which India both faces unprecedented challenges and is on the global cutting edge of finding solutions.

The program is designed for students from a wide variety of majors and academic interests, with a curriculum that spans development studies, business, economics, public health, environmental studies, international affairs, political science, film and media studies, anthropology, history, and women's studies.

By providing a core academic base and allowing progressive specialization though electives, culminating in an internship or directed research project of the student's own choosing, the Alliance's Contemporary India program takes an interdisciplinary yet focused approach to these timely and provocative issues, both as they apply to India and in their global context.

Pune (also known as Poona), a vibrant, dynamic center of both traditional and modern India with a wide and varied array of academic, cultural, professional offerings, has been chosen as our location for this program. Our students will have access to the best of Pune's academic institutions and research facilities, its rich cultural life, its thriving student scene, and its leading NGOs and multi-nationals. Our Pune staff, who have extensive professional experience in study abroad in India and a well-connected local network, will work to maximize students' learning both inside and outside the classroom, while maintaining the highest standards in health, safety, and professional program management.

In all, through this lens of Contemporary India, the Alliance seeks to turn highly-motivated, adventurous U.S. undergraduates into sensitive and sophisticated global citizens, with a nuanced understanding of complex international, regional, and local issues.