Transforming Rural India
though Technology
and Business Leadership
2008 Exploration Seminar in India
This program has been cancelled for 2008 - please consider another Exploration Seminar program!
Program Director: John Castle ~ Business
Dates of Instruction: August 11 - 31, 2008
While urban India was turning itself into a global technology power, her vast rural areas long remained as they were for centuries. India is now turning her talents to improving life and business in her villages and farms. Her intellect and energy is being harnessed by putting engineering colleges in every nook and corner of the country. We will discover what impact this access to education has made on the rural communities and talk with the people who have benefited.
This Exploration Seminar will focus on:
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Understanding how India is developing technologies for its rural masses.
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Understanding how rural entrepreneurship is taking shape in India.
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Visiting NGOs which shape rural entrepreneurship.
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Understanding how rural India lives by actually living and experiencing it.
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Making recommendations on how rural problems could be tackled by Indian Government and Society.
Projects and people we will visit include:
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Visiting IIT Madras, the premier Engineering College (hyperlink www.iitm.ac.in to learn from its most accomplished Professor Jhunjhunwala (hyperlink tenet group http://www.tenet.res.in) whose team is adapting some of the most advanced technologies for use in Rural India.
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Visiting other Engineering Colleges in Rural India to understand how India is developing its vast human resources to become a tech superpower and to bridge the urban-rural divide.
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Visiting Naluvedapathy village where Sudeep and his team created Guinness Records in tree plantation twice. The first tree plantation saved the entire village from Tsunami. (Hyperlink)
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Studying Aavin ( http://www.aavinmilk.com) a cooperative organization which is not only the major milk supplier in Tamil Nadu but also provides thousands of rural entrepreneurial opportunities.
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Attachment with Krishnamma Jagannathan (hyperlink), a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi who’s NGO has provided lands to 10,000 landless poor.
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Experiencing how CSR activities transformed villages after Tsunami and Study the Tsunami Rehabilitation Effort in Cuddalore and Nagappatinam
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Meeting the CEOs of some of the top BPO companies to understand how IT industry achieves 30-40% annual growth amidst such extensive rural problems.
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Visit 4 to 6 Multinational Companies to explore possibilities of any future Professional Affiliations.
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Study the village health, school, food supply, and employment guarantee systems.
Places we will vist are: Chennai, Pondichery, Auroville, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tanjavur, Vellore, Bangalore, Hyderabad
You will have unique opportunities not open to tourists including:
- The India Team will be led by Sudeep Jain, an Indian government official. Sudeep has handled some of the most challenging assignments in Rural India. The group will have the benefit of hearing directly from Sudeep and his wife Shanan who spent 2006-07 at UW and understand the cross culture issues well.
- You will have the opportunity to interact personally with business and government leaders . In particular we will meet the heads of the districts of Cuddalore and Nagapattinam.
- You will interact and debate with Indian Business School students who have been studying these projects.
- You will meet Parameswaran, who lost 3 children and 7 other relatives during Tsunami and yet runs one of the best orphanages today. www.nambikkai.org.in
- You will have access to adventure places not accessible to tourists, where only Indian natives go.
- You may be able to live for a short time with Indian Families in Rural India
Prior to departing from Seattle, the group will meet to :
- Understand your individual interests and goals.
- Discuss the itinerary in detail and make adjustments to suit the group’s goals.
- Assign individual and group research topics which will be presented at the end of the Seminar.
- Interact with the India Team live over Skype before we leave to help you understand what you will be seeing..
Students will receive 5 credits for MGMT 490 or CHID 474 Asia Study Abroad (I&S). Participants should check with their advisors to determine how these credits can count towards departmental requirements.
Student costs:
$3,675 Program Fee
$200 IPE Fee
Additional costs include: RT airfare to India, some meals, immunizations, visa, and personal spending money.
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