SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

---

Visit to Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai
Tuesday 20 November 2007

Web page: http://www.tiss.edu

Vimla Nadkarni and Neela Dabir.

Persons we met:
• Professor S. Parasuraman, Director, TISS.
• Dr Vimla Nadkarni, Professor and Dean, School of Social Work, TISS.
• Dr Neela Dabir, ndabir@tiss.edu, Associate Professor, Centre for Equity for Women, Children & Families; and Convenor, International Studies Programme (ISP), TISS.
• Ms. Arunima Nair, Assistant Convenor, ISP, TISS.
• Dr. Sonia Suchday, Director, Clinical Health Psychology; Assistant Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Jack and Pearl Resnick Campus, Bronx, New York, USA.

Since its inception in 1936, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences has been one of the most prestigious institutions in India in the field of social work and related disciplines. Today it is a Deemed University, recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Therefore, we were very interested to pay a visit to the institute, located in Deonar in the eastern part of Mumbai. A few months earlier, we had actually received e-mail from Dr. Neela Dabir, requesting SASNET for assistance in reaching out to educational institutions of high standards and repute in Sweden and elsewhere, with an offer of international collaboration projects.
TISS has been involved in several research projects funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, over the years, e g in the field of HIV/Aids research. So there is an old Swedish connection, and since 2007 a Linnaeus-Palme International Exchange Programme is running between TISS and the Department of Caring Sciences and Sociology at the University of Gävle. In December 2007, Senior lecturer Anders Hydén and the Director of Studies Tomas Boman, will go from Gävle to TISS, and during the Spring 2008 two teachers from TISS will go to Gävle.
Another collaboration including a Swedish university is also under way, namely with the Dept. of Social Work, Göteborg University. During the Fall 2007, an undergraduate student from Göteborg spends 18 weeks at TISS doing fieldwork.

That TISS is really interested in expanding their international collaboration beyond their many existing MoUs and exchange programmes mainly with American universities, was illustrated by the fact that both the TISS Director, Prof. S. Parasuraman, and the Dean for its School of Social Work, Prof. Vimla Nadkarni, joined Dr. Neela Dabir for our meeting. Prof. Parasumaran informed us that TISS also participates in an International Network for Social Work, involving teachers/faculty exchange between institutions worldwide, and he would appreciate more collaboration also with Swedish partners.
Currently 14 foreign students from different countries are studying at TISS in its different programmes within the framework of the so-called Study in India Programme (SIP). It includes one in Social Work that offers a unique sectoral and thematic diversity, reflecting a strong multidisciplinary orientation to social analysis and practice. Besides a number of regular courses on BA, MA, MPhil and postgraduate levels, TISS also offers some very interesting specially designed courses for the SIP. They include courses in Disaster Management, Child Rights and Human Rights, Isues of Class, Caste, Tribes and Minorities, and Corporate Social Responsibility. More information about TISS Study in India Programme

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences has an academic structure with five schools – each divided into a number of separate Centres, and four independent Centres.

• The School of Health Systems Studies
• The School of Management and Labour Studies
• The School of Rural Development, that among other activities also conducts Diploma programmes in Sustainable Development for the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and for Ladakh.
• The School of Social Sciences, including six Centres, for Dalit and Tribal Studies; Development Studies; Human Ecology; Sociology of Education; Socio-legal Studies and Human Rights; and Women’s Studies. 
• The School of Social Work, also with six Centres, focusing on Community Organisation and Development Practice; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Disability Studies and Action; Equity for Women, Children & Families; Health and Mental Health; and Social Justice and Governance.

• Centre for Lifelong Learning
• Centre for Media and Cultural Studies
• Centre for Research Methodology
• Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management

Whereas Dr. Neela Dabir primarily searches for more educational collaboration with Swedish institutions, the TISS Director Prof. Parasuraman talked more about the possibilities of Swedish universities/researchers to participate in the networks and research projects that TISS is involved with.
One interesting field would be research on Sustainable Mountain Development, within the framework of a network of universities in the Greater Himalayan Region that is currently being established with support from TISS. It includes universities in all the countries from Afghanistan in the west, via Pakistan, India and Nepal to China and Bhutan in the east.
Another research field with which TISS is involved, and where Swedish researchers would be welcome, is the Crisis in Indian Agriculture, resulting in a wave of suicide among destitute farmers. Prof. Parasumraman stressed the need for comparative studies in collaboration with institutions in the other South Asian nations, that could be carried out within the SAARC network.

Finally, Prof. Parasuraman (photo to the right) presented plans for a project focusing on Health Indicators for South Asia, to create a kind of observatory for this. TISS is collaborating with London School of Economics in this field, but Prof. Parasuraman hopes that the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida would be interested to take on this important project. It should be added that TISS introduces a new Masters programme in Public Health from June 2008. It will focus on Social Epidemiology, including studies of HIV/Aids, TB and Malaria.

Dr. Sonia Suchday, a psychologist from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York was also participating in our meeting. She had come to TISS to search for possibilities of sending students on BA level from her university to TISS. A discussion came up whether in the future SASNET would be interested in extending its ambitions of working for increased Swedish-South Asian collaboration to also stimulate joint projects with e g American institutions.