Professors from India to CBS

New agreement with the Indian government takes Indian Studies at CBS to a new level

Starting from the fall of 2009, senior visiting professors from India will play an important role at CBS. CBS' President Finn Junge-Jensen and the Indian Ambassador to Denmark, Yogesh K. Gupta, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday 16 July 2009. Each year, the Government of India through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in consultation with CBS will appoint a new senior visiting professor in Indian Economics or Social Sciences. CBS’ Asia Research Centre will host the visiting professors.

Professor Anthony D'Costa, CBS' first Professor of Indian Studies and engaged in researching the political economy of Indian development and industry, has spearheaded the initiative in establishing a world-class research environment on contemporary India.

Bachelor degree in Indian Studies

From January 2010, a research degree student with a project on India's political economy will join the centre and from 2011 the students will be enrolled in a new undergraduate programme covering India's economy and society for the first time. CBS already has study programmes focusing on Japanese and Chinese society and business.

- This India Programme is unique in Denmark. No such programme exists in the country and even in Europe there are only few places where Indian studies are combined with the study of contemporary Indian economy. In addition, the India Programme at CBS will introduce a mandatory semester at an Indian university and from the autumn of 2010, we are going to offer special electives with a focus on India, says Anthony D'Costa.

- Besides economic, political and sociological knowledge about India, the students will gain a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms that influence the development in India, which are of crucial importance when you want to respond to big complex markets such as India, explains Anthony D'Costa.

New possibilities for Danish business

India does not only possess an enormous potential for Danish business, the country also provides a competent workforce. More than 1.000 Danish companies are benefiting from skilled Indians, especially within the IT and the pharmaceutical sectors.

Leading experts from India

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), an institution under the Indian government, aims to contribute to the study of India by high-level academic exchanges and offers visiting professorships to selected universities worldwide. Besides CBS, ICCR has an agreement with approximately 30 other universities, such as the Sorbonne University in Paris, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, and University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. The Indian professors are selected among candidates from India's leading universities and business schools.