Washington, Dec 11 (ANI): Social work students from India and the University of Chicago are participating in the new international exchange programme, to learn about each other's cultures and how organizations in both the countries confront poverty and economic disadvantages.
The first group of four Indian students visited Chicago this fall as part of the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences International Exchange Partnership, launched by SSA and the Tata Institute for Social Sciences at Mumbai.
SSA sent eight students to Mumbai in 2010 and seven last summer.
During their monthlong stay in India, students performed class and fieldwork in urban poverty and community organizing and development.
"What we tried to do was provide them with a window on how urban poverty is generated and reproduced, as well as a look at life in neighborhoods - and the policy issues and on-the-ground practices being used to address the needs of the people," said Robert Chaskin, associate professor in SSA and an organizer of the exchange.
"For TISS, this interface with SSA at the University of Chicago connects us to a university that has a long history of social work education, and a city with a history of community development and organization," said Mouleshri Vyas, associate professor and chairperson of the Center for Community Organization and Development Practice in the School of Social Work at the Tata Institute.
"It offers a glimpse of the challenges to the urban poor in the present social, economic and political context, as well as the policy context of community practice."
The course work in Mumbai looked at poverty and the global economy, community organizing and development practices, the role of nongovernmental organizations, social exclusion and labour, urban space and crime, and minorities and gender in development.
In Chicago, students from Mumbai participated in courses including urban development, policy formation and human rights. They also accompanied SSA students at work in their field placement agencies, and visited local organizations working with the poor in several Chicago neighbourhoods.
Students visited neighbourhoods in both India and Chicago, and did community assessments of needs and resources available for people living in disadvantaged circumstances.
For students taking part of the programme, the experience was a real eye-opener. Students from India were surprised to see how much segregation and youth crime exists in Chicago.
For SSA students taking part in the exchange, the experience of being in another country was equally revealing. (ANI)
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