With its strategy set on expanding its reach, Kent State University plans to spend $ 3 million a year towards global education and to achieve this aim, it is planning to convert its existing Delhi office into a zonal office so that it can reach out to countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangaldesh and Sri lanka. In order to make a strong base in the country, the university is also looking for top Indian universities for partnerships.
University’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Todd A Diacon while talking to The Pioneer about their aims, said, “Our goal is to have at least 300 students from India. We currently have 176 Indian students and have already received nearly 600 applications. Along with that, we also want to develop bilateral projects with Indian universities for which we would be going around the country to select few domestic universities.”
Of all the courses, Diacon said, “Indian students are more interested in science programs like physics, biology, bio- medicine and computer sciences. Apart from that, journalism and communication courses have also started generating interests. This is why, we plan to meet academics from Jamia Millia Islamia to collaborate for our communication and journalism programmes. We would also be meeting heads of DY Patil College of Engineering.”
Kent State currently has four active partners in the country but going forward, the global university is working aggressively to join hands with more and more Indian universities. China currently has the largest international student population at Kent but Marcello Fantoni, Associate Provost says it is a changing trend.
“While the number of Indian students has gone up by nearly 25 per cent, it is currently third largest with China topping the tally with 970 students and Saudi Arabia with 675 students. But this trend is now changing as the Chinese student population has reached its saturation point. We now are expecting more and more Indian students in the coming years.”
The global university also understands that for some international students, education overseas can be difficult due to a higher tuition fees. In order to help students, the university also is planning to ramp up its current scholarship programme. “We are working on changing our scholarship programmes so that more students can be covered. Till now we had a separate scholarship fund which was not being review annually since the last five years. We would soon be reviewing it and expect it to grow by four times,” Fantoni added.
The university is not just helping students to study but is also ensuring that all their students are able to get the practical knowledge through internships. “We have also helped students in getting internships in top companies of their respective industries. Apart from that we have a very active placement office. Every student of Kent State can get work in the US after completing their course for upto 3 years.”
Kent State currently has over 250 programmes in majors and minors with students from over 97 countries outside the US and global offices in Beijing and Delhi. “Going forward, we plan to open another global office in Brazil. Along with that we are also working on an online orientation programme for all the students,” Diacon added. Being the largest online course provider in Ohio, Kent feels the next level of education lies in online teaching.