On Wednesday and Thursday, the Georgetown University Circle of Women launched a picture campaign where students could stand with the phrase “GIRLS + EDUCATION =”. This tool was part of an effort to raise awareness about a smaller project to improve education access for girls at a boarding house in Southeast India.

“We’ve had a lot of success in terms of this particular event and we’re excited about the number of people who came out translating to a number of people becoming activists…and continue to advocate for girl’s education,” Founding Member and Financial Director Vivian Ojo (SFS ’14) said.

“By filling in the blank of the Girls Education Equation with some of the ideas you think are relevant…you can be part of the awareness revolution,” she added.

This time tomorrow, I will be in the subcontinent of 1.2 billion people and my grandmother’s delicious homemade Indian food. That’s right friends, I’m going to India: the land of the Chicken Maharaja Mac, where potato chips become Masala Lays.

Owing to my absence, for the next couple weeks, Vox will be following a lighter posting schedule. But don’t worry your pretty little heads; former blog editor Leigh Finnegan will take over to bring you any breaking news and prefrosh previews will continue throughout August.

We may be approaching the tail end of summer lovin’, but it’s not too late to pull out your witches brew and throw a massive rave. So enjoy summer while it lasts and I’ll see you in a couple weeks.

In his semesterly interview with campus media last week, President John DeGioia discussed the growth of Georgetown’s connections in India and his optimistic vision for the future of the University’s initiatives there.

In 2009, Kapil Sibal, the Indian Minister of Human Resources and Development, visited Georgetown, participating in a two-hour workshop and delivering a speech. During the same trip he also visited other elite American universities, including Yale.

According to DeGioia, ties with foreign universities are essential for India’s further economic growth:

Part of the challenge for India is they simply don’t have enough higher education infrastructure. If you look at some of their recent reports, they may need as many as 600 new universities to meet the demand now to be able to accomplish what the Chinese have done in the last generation in this next generation in India which is essentially to double the level of college attendance. They have a very strong need for infrastructure, and they’re trying to encourage institutions who have a history of delivering higher education to consider coming in and doing some of that, helping the Indian government move forward in building that infrastructure.

In November 2010, DeGioia delivered the keynote address at a higher education summit held in Delhi by the Indian Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. That visit led to two of the defining aspects of the University’s expanding initiatives in India. At the summit, DeGioia first learned of high-level plans for a US-India Higher Education Summit. After lengthy talks with the State Department, Georgetown hosted that summit in October. Sibal and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened the summit with speeches in Gaston Hall.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday morning, while most Hoyas were still warm in their beds, others were lining up outside Gaston Hall at the crack of dawn, hoping to get a seat for a speech by one of the nation’s biggest political figures. The speech they were waiting for was by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke at 8:30 a.m. for the opening address of the U.S.-India Higher Education Summit.

“Democracy depends on education,” Clinton said of the importance of the summit, which marks the first time that the world’s two largest democracies have come together to discuss what she believes to be the crux of their political systems.

Also present for the summt were Minister of Human Resource Development in India Kapil Sibal, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, University President Jack DeGoia, and 300 presidents, chancellors, and other important educational figures from the U.S. and India. Because of all the high-profile guests, only about a hundred of the students who lined up were allowed seats, and those lucky hundred were relegated to the balconies of Gaston.

Clinton began her remarks by welcoming the students in attendance. She took the chance to make a plug for careers in the Foreign Service—considering the sleep that most sacrificed to be there, her message probably did not fall on deaf ears.

She then outlined the United States’s commitment to collaborate on issues of higher education with India.

“Investing in education is in our common interest,” she said.

She continued by saying that education is a “passport to understanding,” along with building international relationships and the importance of “looking outward” in the world that we now inhabit.

Read the rest of this entry »

Plug into some sushi

Interested in both Jewish civilization and free sushi? Be sure to stop by the Sushi Mixer for Students and Faculty hosted by the Program for Jewish Civilization.

Head over to the McGhee Library in ICC on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for the chance to meet with current students and faculty and chow down on free sushi.

Indian Food

It’s the time of year when some of us are starting applying to summer jobs. “Hoyas on the Ground in India: Internships and other Adventures” with Professors Maria Luise Wagner and Shareen Joshi is a chance to talk about interning in India, and comes with the bonus of free Indian food.

This event is being hosted by the Mortara Center for International Studies and the Certificate for International Development (3600 N Street, acrss from Walsh) this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month, University President John DeGioia, SFS Dean Carol Lancaster, and Chief Financial Officer Christopher Augostini visited New Dehli to meet alumni and explore the future of Indian higher education.

“The delegation focused on productive and effective ways to engage in India with a variety of possible counterparts,” Lancaster said in a press release. “It also sought to strengthen ties with Georgetown graduates in that large, dynamic and important country.”

Last July, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal met with Spiros Dimolitsas, Georgetown’s chief administrative officer, to discuss the possibility of building a campus in India. At the time, University spokesperson Juile Green Bataille downplayed any potential partnership.

“There’s no specifics regarding Georgetown and India,” Bataille wrote. “As we do routinely with a variety of entities, Georgetown is exploring opportunities to develop a range of possible partnerships in India that could further the university’s mission.”

During the trip, Georgetown’s delegation also participated in a conference organized by India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. DeGioia’s keynote address at the conference highlighted the need for educational partnerships between India and colleges around the world.

“When we assemble talent from every corner of the globe, when we can connect that talent in new collaborative partnerships, and when the decisions made in one place can affect the lives of people in many other places,” he said. “I believe we need to acknowledge a new kind of responsibility to engage in the world.”

h/t Georgetown University

SFS-Q may not be the only overseas Georgetown campus in the future, if Minister Kapil Sibal has anything to say about it.

Last Wednesday, Sibal, who spoke at Georgetown in October 2009, met with Senior Vice President Spiros Dimolitsas to discuss the possibility of building a campus in India.

Dimolitsas, who was joined by officials from Virginia Tech and American University at the meeting, told Sibal that Georgetown is “looking at institutions and projects [that aim] at social science research,” according to the Indian Press Information Bureau. He specifically mentioned programs that involve “professional and executive development for policy makers and business leaders” and “research in emerging areas of climate change.”

Coming at the heels of legislation introduced last May that aims to aid and regulate foreign universities’ plans to build campuses in India, Sibal’s visit to DC was meant to encourage and attract American universities.

But, don’t hold your breath—Georgetown has only begun to pursue a handful of options in the sub-continent.

“There’s no specifics regarding Georgetown and India. As we do routinely with a variety of entities, Georgetown is exploring opportunities to develop a range of possible partnerships in India that could further the university’s mission,” University spokesperson Julie Green Bataille wrote in an e-mail to Vox. “Conversations are at a very preliminary stage to determine what feasible options may exist.  There are no specific projects identified or time frames outlined for moving forward at this time.”

But planning aside, let’s all agree on one thing—SFS-I has a nice ring to it.

Photo taken from Georgetown University’s website.