SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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SASNET workshop 2006 on
The role of South Asia in
the internationalisation of
higher education in Sweden

The workshop was jointly organised by SASNET, Karolinska Institutet Medical University and the Swedish Institute

Time: Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 November 2006

Location: Nobel Forum, Karolinska institutet, Nobels väg 1, Stockholm/Solna

Aim of the seminar: To discuss the context, conditions and suitable directions for an increased interaction with South Asia in higher education. What forms should it take? How can it be financed?

Organisational Committee:
• Staffan Lindberg, Lars Eklund and Boel Billgren, SASNET;
• Bo Lindblad, Karolinska institutet Medical University
• Ulla Rylander, Swedish Institute

Background: South Asia has one fourth of the world population and more than half of the poorest 1/5. It has all the major development problems of the contemporary world, including the most serious environmental problems (water, soil, vegetation and air) and health challenges.
At the same time South Asia, especially India is now fast emerging as one of the major economical and intellectual centres of the globe. Its magnitude will soon be felt worldwide not just in the IT sphere but also in the field of production of services and goods in the international markets and in intellectual, scientific and cultural spheres. The creativity stems from the meeting of people from the many different cultures and castes in new flat institutions and business organisations and the return of white-collar migrants who worked in the West.

Rubhana Raqib from icddr,b in Dhaka, with Zarina Kabir and Gunilla Mellin from Karolinska Institutet.

Sweden has a long history of interaction with South Asia in cultural, economic and educational fields but its presence is still rather limited compared to parts of East Asia and Africa. There is also a long experience of development cooperation but much less of public resources are today earmarked for academic and other exchange with South Asia.
At present there is a growing interest on part of Swedish industry to increase its presence in South Asia and collaboration with Indian/South Asian companies. We can also foresee a steady increase of interest to interact in all other spheres, not least in research and education.Thus, there is both a strong development motive and a strong self-interest motive to increase Swedish interaction with South Asia. When it comes to student exchange, the number of South Asian students coming to Swedish universities have increased dramatically in the last few years. One reason is the changed relation to USA on part of Muslims in South Asia after 11 September 2001.
Another reason is the focussed recruitment of South Asian students to Swedish University Colleges when they could not fill their courses with Swedish and European students. But is this really a healthy solution to financial problems at Swedish universities? And, more importantly, what should be the aim of such recruitment?

Programme

Please note that after the workshop, several presentations are now available as pdf-files.

Tuesday 28 November

9.30 – 11.30.
Introductory Session

• Welcome by Professor Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, President of Karolinska Institutet
• Address by Mr. Lars Leijonborg, Minister of Education, Government of Sweden (photo to the right)
• Prof. Staffan Lindberg, Director of SASNET
• Associate Professor Elias Arnér, Dean of Post graduate education, Karolinska Institutet. Read Dr. Arnér’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Mr. Niklas Tranaeus, Swedish Institute, on the importance of student exchange. Read Mr. Tranaeus’ presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Dr. Rubhana Raqib, Scientist, Immunology Unit, Laboratory Sciences Division, ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Read Dr. Raqib’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Mr. Sunandan Roy Chowdhury, Editor-Publisher, Sampark Journal of Global Understanding, Kolkata, India. Read Mr. Chowdhury’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Questions, discussion

11.30 – 13 & 14 – 15.30.
Session 1. Recruitment of South Asian students in hard sciences in Sweden,
Chairperson: Prof. Bo Lindblad, IHCAR, Karolinska Institutet

• The Karolinska Institutet experience, PhD sandwich programme with Pakistan. Associate Professor Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg and PhD Candidate Mohsin Saeed Khan, Division of International Health (IHCAR), Department of Public Health Sciences, KI. Read Dr. Stålsby Lundborg’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• The Uppsala University experiences in International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH), Prof. Lars-Åke Persson, and Dr. Rubhana Raqib, ICDDR,B, Dhaka (photo to the left). Read Prof. Persson’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Chalmers experience with students from Bangladesh, Raihan Rafique, representative for the Association of Bangladeshi Students in Sweden. Read Mr. Rafique’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Chalmers experience with students from India, Associate Professor Devdatt Dubhashi, Department of Computing Science. Read Dr. Dubhashi’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Biotechnology, Lund University, Prof. Olle Holst. Read Prof. Holst’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Swedish Institute supported exchanges with South Asia and cooperation with Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Ulla Rylander. Read Ulla Rylander’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Blekinge Institute of Technology, experiences of recruiting masters students from South Asia, Dr. Jan-Olof Gustavsson, http://www.bth.se/eng/

Kjell-Ove Holmström, Skövde University, Jessica Voggenberger, Embassy of India, and Ingibjorg Stefansdottir, Lund University

• Skövde – Linköping collaboration with India, Associate Professor Kjell Ove Holmström, School of Life Sciences, Skövde University. http://www.sasnet.lu.se/healthskovde.html
• International Science Programme, Uppsala University, Associate Professor Peter Sundin. Read Dr. Sundin’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)

16.00 – 18.
Session 2. South Asian students in soft sciences in Sweden
Chairperson: Per Hilding, Director of Studies for International Relations, Department of Economic History, Stockholm University

• Lund University Masters Programme in South Asian Studies. Dr. Jan Magnusson, School of Social Work. Read Dr. Magnusson’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Uppsala University’s multidisciplinary education in a South Asia Studies master's programme (2002-04), and exchange collaboration programme with University of Calcutta (from 2004), Associate Professor Gunnel Cederlöf, Department of History. http://www.sasnet.lu.se/antroupp.html#kolkata
• Göteborg School of Global Studies: PhD students from Sri Lanka, Associate Professor Mikael Schultz and PhD Candidate Dhammika Herath. Read Dr. Schultz’ presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• SPIDER, Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions, split PhD programme for Srilankan doctoral students 1999–2004. Mr. Rodolfo Candia, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV), Stockholm University and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Kista. Read Mr. Candia’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Borås University College, Michael Tittus, Head of the School of Engineering. Read Michael Tittus’ presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Uppsala University, collaboration with Hyderabad, India. Associate professor Hans Blomkvist, Department of Government. http://www.sasnet.lu.se/polsciupp.html#hyderabad
• Kalmar University College, Prof. William Hogland, Department of Technology. Read Prof. Hogland’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)

Wednesday 29 November

9.00 – 13.00
Session 3. Sending students to South Asia.
Chairperson: Associate Professor Gunnel Cederlöf, Department of History, Uppsala University

Marc Katz, Karlstad University and Mirja Juntunen, Uppsala University.

• Nordic Centre in India, summer and semester courses in Hyderabad. Dr. Mirja Juntunen. http://www.nci.uu.se/study_in_india.php
• Peace and conflict studies in Pondicherry, India – a Norwegian Programme, Rune Tjelland, Styreformann i Kulturstudier, Oslo. http://kulturstudier.com/
• Karlstad University Teachers training and other educational activities in Banaras and Dharamsala, Associate Professor Marc Katz, Department of Religious Studies and Theology. http://www.sam.kau.se/religion/indien/eng/
• Örebro University’s India Programme, Dr. Anders Jonsson, Department of Sociology, and Assistant Professor Pell Uno Larsson, Department of Clinical Medicine. http://www.swedenindia.org/
Read Dr. Anders Jonsson’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Lund Masters Programme in South Asian Studies, Dr. Jan Magnusson. Read Dr. Magnusson’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Student’s experiences from NCI course in Hyderabad and Lund Masters programme fieldwork in India. Ingibjorg Stefansdottir. Read Ingibjorg Stefansdottir’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• KTH: building a new Technical university in Pakistan, Dr. Ramon Wyss, Department of Nuclear Physics, Vice President of International Affairs at KTH. http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/News____13415.aspx
• KTH: strong interaction with Indian universities, Prof. K.V.Rao, Division of Engineering Material Physics. Read Prof. Rao’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)
• Swedish technology students studying at IIT Mumbai, Markus Kirsten. Read Markus Kirsten’s presentation at the workshop (as a pdf-file)

14.00 – 16.30
Session 4. Best strategies for marketing Higher Swedish Education in South Asia, and for sending students to Higher Education in South Asia?
– Panel discussion

Staffan Lindberg, SASNET, with Erland Ringborg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Chairperson: Prof. Staffan Lindberg, Department of Sociology, Lund University & Director, SASNET

Key persons:
• Beppe Karlsson, Nordic Centre in India. http://www.nci.uu.se/
• Marc Katz, Department of Religious Studies and Theology, Karlstad University
• Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg, IHCAR, Karolinska Institutet
• K.V.S. Prasad, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology. http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~prasad
• Erland Ringborg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Former Head of the Swedish Institute. Wrote an official report on the issue of university fees for foreign students, presented in January 2006. http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/6293/a/57100
• Niklas Traneus, Swedish Institute. Read Mr. Tranaeus’ presentation (as a pdf-file)

Workshop participants:

Stockholm-Uppsala area:

International Programme Office for Education and Training
• Eva Ehdwall

Karolinska Institutet Medical University
• Harriet Wallberg Henriksson
• Elias Arnér
• Bo Lindblad
• Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg
• Vinod Diwan
• Anna Persson
• Göran Tomson
• Zarina Kabir
• Sanjeevi Carani
• Helen Conte
• Björn Klinge
• Gunilla Norhagen
• Gunilla Mellin
• Mohsin Saeed Khan

Vinod Diwan and Gunilla Norhagen, Karolinska Institutet.

Royal Institute of Technology, KTH
• Ramon Wyss
• K.V. Rao
• Mannan Mridha
• Rodolfo Candia
• Markus Kirsten

Ministry of Education
• Lars Leijonborg

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Erland Ringborg
• Johanna Sommansson

South Asian embassies in Stockholm
• Muhammad Aamar Aftab, First Secretary, Embassy of Pakistan
• Mr. Premadasa, Embassy of Sri Lanka
• Jessica Voggenberger, Embassy of India
• Shahnaz Gazi, Embassy of Bangladesh

Per Hilding, Stockholm University and Anna Lindberg, Lund University.

STINT
• Katarina Wiberg

Stockholm University
• Per Hilding
• Åke Nagrelius
• Christer Norström
• Henrik Berglund

Swedish Institute
• Ulla Rylander
• Niklas Tranaeus
• Kurt Bratteby

Swedish National Agency for Higher Education
• Cecilia George

Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala
• Wijnand Boonstra
• Sadhna Alström
• Seema Arora-Jonsson

Seema Arora Jonsson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Gunnel Cederlöf, Uppsala University, Sadhna Alström, SLU, and Sunandan Roy Chowdhury, Samparkworld, Kolkata, India.

Södertörn University College
• Per Ståhlberg

Uppsala University
• Gunnel Cederlöf
• Lars-Åke Persson
• Anju Saxena
• Beppe Karlsson
• Mirja Juntunen
• Hans Blomkvist
• Peter Sundin

”Mofussil areas”
(‘Mofussil areas’ is Anglo-Indian terminology
for rural localities as opposed to chief station)

Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona
• Jan-Olof Gustavsson

Borås University College
• Michael Tittus

Chalmers University of Technology
• Devdatt Dubhashi
• K.V.S. Prasad
• Raihan Rafique
• Md. Mafijul Islam

Hanumantha Rao, Luleå University of Technology, Per Hagander, Lund University, Olle Holst, Lund University, and K.V. Rao, KTH.

Göteborg University
• Mikael Schultz
• Dhammika Herath
• Kerstin Andersson

Kalmar University College
• William Hogland

Karlstad University
• Marc Katz

Luleå University of Technology
• Hanumantha Rao

Lund University
• Anna Lindberg
• Olle Holst
• Boel Billgren
• Jan Magnusson
• Lars Eklund
• Per Hagander
• Staffan Lindberg
• Baboo Nair
• Ingibjorg Stefansdottir
• Torkel Wadström

Cecilia George, Swedish National Agency for Higher Education, and Anver Siddiqui, Växjö University.

Skövde University
• Kjell Ove Holmström

Umeå University
• Md. Showkat Gani

Växjö University
• Om Prakash
• Anver Siddiqui

Örebro University
• Pell-Uno Larsson
• Anders Jonsson

Participants from abroad

• Rune T Jelland, Kulturstudier, Oslo, Norway
• Rubhana Raqib, icddrb, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Sunandan Roy Chowdhury, Sampark, Kolkata, India