Study abroad programs can be a great opportunity for students to learn about and experience a different way of life.
Studying abroad can help students indulge in a new culture and it offers great experiential learning opportunities that students aren’t able to get in a traditional classroom.
Picking a study abroad destination can be hard and planning experience can be even worse. GO India strives to make the process easier, allowing students and faculty to get the most out of their study abroad experience.
GO India Initiative provides students, corporate executives and entrepreneurs from across the globe with a plethora of unique experiential learning opportunities in urban and rural India. Each of our programs is customized to ensure that visiting groups are getting the most out of their time in India.
Our team collaborates with the faculty members from the university that is planning a visit, and we create an itinerary based on what they want and what fits their courses best.
“Safety is one of our top priorities and we always have at least two of our team members staying with the group as chaperones and available 24/7 to ensure maximum safety for our participants and to help with any needs that they may have.”
We want our participants to get more out of their time in India, our experiences go deeper than just a normal study group as we arrange sessions and opportunities that normal visitors are not able to get.
To give you an idea of the diversity of our programs and the kinds of experiences we are able to put together, we have summarized our summer programs from this year. We create programs that focus on many different topics.
This summer, we customized three different short-term culturally immersive and educational programs for student groups from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Over the course of the summer, we hosted almost 50 students and faculty members and traveled to a total of 9 cities across 7 different states in India, some of them more than once.
Northwestern Michigan College – Michigan, United States
GO India Initiative kicked off its summer programs with Northwestern Michigan College from the United States for the second year in a row. With a theme of Eastern Religions, students and faculty enjoyed this 12-day experience from May 13th through May 25th and traveled to Delhi, Agra, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dharamshala, and Chandigarh.
The goal of this experience was for students to gain a deeper understanding of the religions that they studied in class; this trip was carefully crafted to fit the credit requirements and learning objectives of the students who participated.
The students were able to interact with and learn about Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and Tibetan Buddhism.
The students and faculty of Northwestern Michigan College had the pleasure of visiting various places of worship for each religion across different cities and had the opportunity to meet with and ask questions of actual practitioners and leaders within each religion as well as various philosophical leaders and scholars from India.
When they visited the Gyuto Tantric Monastery in Dharamshala our team arranged an extremely unique opportunity for the students to have an interactive session with the president of the monastery, His Excellency Abbot Khen Rinpoche Thupten Tenzin, which was a highlight and honor for the students and faculty.
They danced in sarees during their Bollywood dance class and enjoyed a culinary class where they learned to make traditional Indian foods.
Watch: NMC Eastern Religions May 2019 | Testimonials
They visited the private university, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, in Haridwar where they attended a Hindu ritual at All World Gayatri Pariwar and met with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr. Chinmay Pandya.
The students visited Paramarth Nikethan in Rishikesh where they attended an Aarti, a fire ritual on the Ganges, and met Sadhvi Bhagwati Saraswati a prominent figure in yoga and Hindu philosophy.
They even had the unique opportunity of visiting the residential complex of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala. The students and faculty members from Northwestern Michigan College loved experiencing the rich cultural diversity within India and growing spiritually during their time here.
This experience sent the students home with a real-world understanding of the many religions and cultures in India that they had learned about in their class.
Macquarie University – Australia
This 10-day experience from June 10th to June 19th brought students and faculty from Macquarie University in Australia to Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur.
This program was designed as an intensive, academically relevant experience that focused on organizational psychology with subjects like human resources, staff wellbeing, and leadership management in the Indian context.
Students were brought to six different corporate visits, ranging from call centers to Indian companies like Nykaa, a leading online beauty store, and JSW, one of India’s largest business conglomerates, to learn about how human resources and leadership management are organized in different companies.
They spent time at a leading public university, IIT Bombay in Mumbai, where they gained a basic understanding of organizational psychology in an Indian context; they also visited a leading private university, Amity University in Delhi, where Ph.D. students and head faculty members from the university shared how psychology is taught there.
They visited The Aditya Birla Integrated School, where they learned about how the school is integrating mental healthcare with schooling and holistic family counseling. They also had the opportunity to visit the NGO, Literacy India where they were given a tour of the facilities and had the opportunity to interact with the students.
Watch: Macquaire University | Organizational Psychology June 2019 | Testimonials
Even with their busy schedule, we made sure that the Macquarie University students did not miss out on cultural activities. They toured Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai, Asia’s largest open-air laundromat, where they interacted with workers and their families, learning about the working and living environment.
They visited various monuments and temples across different cities, like the President’s house & India Gate in Delhi and Amer Fort in Jaipur. The students enjoyed an Indian culinary class, a Bollywood dance class, and a yoga and sound healing class during their stay.
With each experience more enriching than the last, this intensive program sent the students and faculty from Macquarie University home with a whole new understanding of Organizational Psychology and India.
University of York – United Kingdom
The Go India Initiative finished off its summer programs with the University of York from the United Kingdom. The 14-day experience from July 28th through August 10th brought students to Bangalore, Delhi, and Agra. With a theme of Historic India versus Modern India, students participated in a variety of activities.
This group was unique because the students came from all different academic backgrounds, and the goal of their visit was to gain a full understanding of India, from historic and modern viewpoints.
They spent time with students and faculty members at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce in Bangalore where they took a survival Hindi course and participated in interactive sessions about India’s history and economy.
At Miranda House in Delhi students participated in multiple interactive educational sessions with topics like a women’s role in India, British Rule in India, and the life and teachings of Gandhi.
They were able to see the contrast between a large company like Amazon, and a start-up like King’s Learning and understand how each company adapts to be able to succeed in India.
They were wowed by historic sites and monuments like the famous Taj Mahal in Agra and Bangalore Palace where they enjoyed guided tours to learn about the history of the sites. After getting a taste of what city life is like, students visited rural India and learned traditional games, made traditional art like Rangoli and pottery, and learned about organic farming at a village.
The students gained firsthand experience of the religious diversity that India has to offer by visiting various places of worship and having different sessions on religion and how it has changed over time in Delhi.
They visited Jama Masjid to learn about Islam, the ISKON temple to learn about Hinduism, and Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to learn about Sikhism and participate in Langar. With such a variety of topics and sessions, the students and faculty went home with a greater understanding and appreciation of India.
Our team knows that choosing a study abroad destination can be extremely difficult. Traditionally, most universities are inclined to choose European and other developed nations, places where students may feel more comfortable and closer to home.
But emerging nations like India have so much to offer students. India is the world’s 7th largest country in size and has the 2ndlargest population, with millions of cultures in our communities,
India has so much to share with the world.
Student can also grow academically in a country like India, bringing new viewpoints to all of their future courses and ventures. Not to mention the personal growth a student can gain from spending time in a country that is the complete opposite of their own, learning to embrace the differences and growing outside of their comfort zone.
As Mark Twain said “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great-grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.”
India is a special country, and we believe everyone should experience it at least once in their lifetime. At GO India, we have a passion for connecting students to India, opening their eyes, and widening their understanding of the world. We would like to warmly invite you to experience this great nation and all its wonders!
Namaste!
Are you interested in bringing your students to India? Let’s talk about it!