Symbiosis University, and its School for Liberal Arts, hosted our third Future of Liberal Arts and Sciences in India conference from May 16-18. Anita Patankar, the Director of the Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts, was a wonderful host, and organized a superb meeting at Symbiosis University! The meeting included a distinguished chief guest, Dr. Furqan Qamar, the Secretary General of the Association of Indian Universities, who was welcomed by the founder of the Symbiosis University, Dr.S.B. Mujumdar. The meeting also featured a wonderful keynote talk by noted author, member of Pariliment, and former Under-secretary of the UN, Shashi Tharoor (http://www.shashitharoor.in/).
In addition to the dynamic and visionary set of ideas coming from the conference participants which drew from the best institutions in the region and beyond, there was a real sense of common purpose and a great energy to the meeting. The meeting included excellent speakers, and after just a few days had a strong sense of a common culture. The meeting web site describes the range of speakers and program of the meeting and is available at: http://ssla.edu.in/conference-2016/concept-and-themes
We are looking forward to our next Future of Liberal Arts in India meeting – probably hosted by Ashoka University in New Delhi, and it should be a wonderful chance to build upon the very strong foundation from our first three meetings. More information on the Future of Liberal Arts in India project can also be found elsewhere on my site at this location: http://bryanpenprase.org/liberal-arts-in-india/
More information
Information about the meeting, Symbiosis University and the participants can be found at these links:
http://ssla.edu.in/conference-2016/schedule – Schedule for Symbiosis Liberal Arts Conference
http://www.shashitharoor.in/my-books.php – books by Shashi Tharoor (my favourite is the “Elephant Tiger and the Cell Phone).
http://www.aiu.ac.in/Professor%20Furqan%20Qamar-Profile.pdf – Information on Dr. Furqan Qamar
http://ssla.edu.in/welcome/ – Symbiosis School of the Liberal Arts information
http://www.siu.edu.in/ – Symbiosis University site