NYSICCSI
New York State Independent College Consortium for Study in India

Program Structure

Every year, NYSICCSI, a consortium of five colleges -- Bard, Hartwick, Hobart and William Smith, St. Lawrence and Skidmore -- offers a rich and rigorous program designed to introduce college students to the great geographic and cultural diversity of northern India.

By the time students depart New York City in mid-August, they will already have met one another at an intensive weekend orientation program conducted on one of the NYSICCSI campuses.

"It's beautiful! I am half way around the world yet I flew her in less than a day -- that, in itself, astounds me. I have a desire to do something wonderful -- perhaps I am."

Students arrive in Delhi, India's capital, for a week of orientation and introductory sessions conducted by top social scientists of India at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), and visits to points o interest in Old and New Delhi.

  A screen in one of the Muslim tombs in Delhi

As students become adjusted to the new sights, sounds and tastes of India, the group moves to Mussoorie. Mussoorie is known as a "hill station," a summer retreat in the green and misty Himalayan foothills, where NYSICCSI students undertake an intensive, five-week course in HIndi language at the Landour Language School.

"The [Landour] program was excellent . . . . Incredibly beneficial . . . . Helped throughout the India experience."

   A view of Mussoorie from Landour.

Mussoorie also serves the program as a base for field trips -- for example, to pilgrimage sites such as Hardwar and Rishikesh, and to village and hydrological development schemes, and for a week's participation in the Shri Bhubaneshwara Mahila Ashram, an intensional community dedicated to local development projects -- with the scenic beauty of the foothills along the way.

Students have ample opportunity to hone their Hindi skills in the city of Jaipur, capital of the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, with its centuries-old pink sandstone walls and proud tradition. They live approximately seven weeks with families, with whom they take most of their meals.

  A student with his Jaipur family.

Classroom training in Hindi continues in Jaipur, and courses on Indian culture, history, and contemporary issues are coordinated by a Consortium faculty member in cooperation with faculty of the Institute of Rajasthan Studies, and with the added benefit of Indian scholars, activists, and artists. In addition to formal classroom training, students undertake an independent project, proposed and approved prior to arrival in India.

   At the Pushkar fair, one of the possible field trips.

From its Jaipur home-base, the group may travel to, for example, Jodhpur, Udaipur, or Chittogarh, living cities redolent of the romance and chivalry of the Mughal and Rajput cultures; Brindaban, where, tradition has it, Lord Krishna danced with the herdswomen; a wildlife sanctuary; and Agra, site of the Taj Mahal.

From Jaipur the group travels to Varanasi (Benares), one of the most important pilgrimage sites in India, on the bank of the sacred Ganges. During a stay of approximately two weeks duration, students experience "the eternal city" on foot and from the river, and also from the perspective of a nearby village, from which they gain insight into urban-rural dynamics as well as the dynamics of caste and class. 

   Varanasi

The program comes to its conclusion in Delhi, with approximately two weeks divided among classes at CSDS, lectures or demonstrations by visiting experts, time for independent research and completion of course projects, and reflection upon the term's experiences.

Approximately a week of free time is scheduled during the Jaipur phase of the program, during which students may remain with their homestay families, work on independent projects, or travel independently.