Edu-leaders

Harvard alumni in India will join hands with the growing Indian student community to make India the professional, academic and cultural focus at America's premier Ivy League university that is celebrating 375 years of its existence, alumni heads said.

Harvard University, which boasts of high profile names such as union ministers Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram, held an interactive event at New Delhi where alumni members met current and newly-admitted students.

Around 100 people, including undergraduate and graduate students and alumni from 12 Harvard schools, came together over the weekend for the reunion by the Harvard India Students Group.

"The Harvard India Students Group is the first ever university-wise students group for the Harvard students in India in the long history of the university. This is also the first time we had a welcome reception in India for newly admitted students to Harvard where the students were introduced to a host of issues," Namita Wahi, President of the Harvard India Students Group, said.

Over 100,000 Indian students are currently studying in universities across the United States. The number is expected to rise because of considerable increase in student visa applications from the country.

"The Harvard Club of India seeks to promote national and global public policy discourse, including proactive dialogue with the central and state governments. We have never hosted an event of this kind for the Harvard Students and community before," said Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, President of the Harvard Club of India.

"Students from the Law School, the Business School, Kennedy School, the Education School, the School of Public Health, and the Design School attended the reception," Ghosh said.

"The number of students is significant. Since this was the first time Indian students from Harvard met in India, there was also a direct engagement between the alumni and the current students," said Wahi, who feels the reception brought them at the threshold of an important moment in the history of Harvard-India relations with "India increasingly becoming the academic, professional, and cultural focus at Harvard."

The event was organised by the Harvard India Students Group, the Harvard Club of India and the South Asia Initiative.

Source: igovernment