India is the way to go

Updated on: Monday, August 23, 2010

The Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), USA, has an urban campus, a string of new courses, and scholarships to attract ‘quality international students’. Its Director of International Admissions, Patricia Biddinger, on a visit to India, spoke about the special plans the varsity has. Excerpts:

What are IUPUI plans for India?
IUPUI seeks to engage in collaborative research and educational exchange with like-minded institutions throughout the world, and is especially keen to increase collaborations with Indian institutions. The School of Informatics has been a forerunner in IUPUI’s foray into India and the exploration of research associations with several universities/institutes in India is underway. Additionally, Professor Archana Dube, Department of Economics at the varsity, is developing plans for a new IUPUI Study Abroad programme for American students. When this programme is launched, we hope that we will be able to facilitate meetings between IUPUI students participating in the summer programme and Indian students accepted to IUPUI and preparing for their travel here.

How many Indian students does the university currently have?
IUPUI currently has 222 graduate and undergraduate Indian students, a number that has been gradually increasing from year to year. Though enrolled across the disciplines, popular courses among Indian students include engineering, computer science, business, informatics and medical sciences.

What specialised courses does the university offer?
IUPUI has particular strengths in technologies and life sciences, while the Schools of Business and Informatics are leaders in their disciplines. As an urban research university, IUPUI provides exceptional research opportunities to students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Tell us about the new courses at the university.
Our newest degree programmes are Motorsports Engineering, which is developing as a Masters degree option, and Energy Engineering. IUPUI has an excellent Forensic and Investigative Science degree at the Bachelors and Masters levels, a Bachelors degree in Biotechnology, and Music Technology at the Bachelors and Masters levels. There are eight scholarship

programmes available on a merit basis to undergraduate international students. Two of these programmes are competitive and require early admission and scholarship application. Six additional admission-based scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic performance in secondary school and SAT or ACT test scores. Graduate scholarships are awarded by the academic departments and often include full tuition scholarships and a stipend to offset living costs.

India is the way to go

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