Center For Diversity & Enrichment promotes India Winterim Program with scholarships.
By Anders Frieberg
More students will have the opportunity to visit India this winter.
The University of Iowa Center for Diversity & Enrichment will sponsor several scholarships this year in promotion of the UI India Winterim program.
The India Winterim is a service-learning program hosted by International Programs that allows students to travel to India over the winter to take classes while in the country.
Nadine Petty, the director of the Center for Diversity & Enrichment, said the Center would provide 10 $1,000 scholarships to center students for the trip.
The UI fee for the program, including tuition, is $3,500. However, this program fee does not include airfare, trip insurance, meals, a passport, a visa, and personal expenses. The overall estimate of costs not including the program fee is around $2,700.
Karla Alvarez, a multicultural specialist at the center who teaches one of the classes, said students could also get scholarships from the Financial Aid Office and the Study Abroad Office.
Pooja Patel, a freshman on campus born in India, said the scholarship is a way for students wanting to expand their horizons.
“Through the scholarship, people are able to get a great opportunity to explore the culture of India,” Patel said.
Petty said one of the center’s multicultural specialists attends the trip each year and teaches a class for the students on the trip.
The three-week provides students with three semester hours of credit.
“Travel broadens the mind and expands the self,” Alvarez said. “During the journey, students will be able to take a life-changing cultural plunge.”
Alvarez said the three weeks will allow students time in a land with great dichotomy. She said it would also allow students the opportunity to learn from and give to leading organizations.
The program will be based in southern India this year, in the coastal city of Pondicherry.
“Southern India is brimming with natural splendor and cultural diversity,” Alvarez said. “Students will experience India’s vibrant culture in one of the most exciting, healthy, and safe parts of the country.”
The program hosts six courses for students making the trip; “Sustainable Development: The Kerala Experience”; “Medicine in India: A Hospital Based Experience”; “Health Care and Entrepreneurship”; “Serving Children with Disabilities, Empowering Local Women, Assisting Older Adults”; “Pain, Palliative Medicine, and Hospice Care: Learning from Each Other”; and “Development of Resilient and Sustainable Agricultural Watersheds.”
Students must apply ahead of time in order to sign up for a class, although the application was due in late September. Students do not need any foreign-language requirements under their belt by the time they go over — only a clear interest in something the program offers there.
Alvarez said the class she teaches alongside Clinical Assistant Professor Motier Haskins, “Serving Children …” works largely with hands-on experience.
“Students will be placed with the most respected organizations throughout South India,” Alvarez said. “They will get hands-on experience at health clinics and hospitals.”
She said students would get to choose between working with the differentially disabled, older adults, the sick, and impoverished women. She says students will learn directly from organizations and employ a diverse variety of techniques to address social problems.
The program this year will run from De. 27 to Jan. 17, 2016..
