A PowerPoint presentation, April 2007

Aims of SASNET• A national Swedish network for research, education, and

information about South Asia, established in 2001. SASNET is funded by Sida and Lund University. SASNET’s root node office is located in Lund.

• The aim is to encourage and promote an open and dynamic networking process, in which Swedish researchers co-operate with researchers in South Asia and globally

• A network open to all sciences. Priority: co-operation between disciplines and across faculties, as well as with institutions in the Nordic countries and in South Asia

• The basic idea: South Asian studies will be most fruitfully pursued in co-operation between researchers, working in different institutions with a solid base in their mother disciplines

Main activities of the network

• Planning grants for networking to start new research and education projects

• Information Gateway• Personal meetings and

community building• Support to focused

activities like workshops and guest lectures

More specifically

• initiate, stimulate, and support research co-operation via planning grants for networking

• grants for networking in developing undergraduate and graduate courses in Sweden if possible in partnership with universities in South Asia

• encourage PhD studies specialising on South Asia, including networking among single research students in institutions that do not specialise on South Asia

More specifically, cont.

• promote student and researcher exchange between Sweden (the Nordic countries) and South Asia

• build an information system for South Asian studies in partnership with academic and public institutions, media, business communities, and NGOs

• contribute to co-ordination of consultations between researchers and different public institutions, business organisations, and NGOs

Focused activities• Workshop on Global Networking in

South Asian Studies, 2001

• Symposium for PhD candidates, Marstrand 2002

• Contact journeys to South Asia in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007

• Arranging the 18th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies at Lund University, 2004, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary networking with medicine and technology

• Workshop on the Role of South Asia in the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sweden, at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, November 2006

The Gateway that is SASNET

• On the Research page SASNET presents all South Asia related education and research at Swedish universities, as well as giving useful information for students and researchers.

• Important lectures and workshops

• South Asia related conferences worldwide

• Conference reports• Funding agencies• Doctoral theses• Fellowships/vacant

positions

Strong research environments

• South Asia Studies at Karlstad University

• History of religions at Lund• Peace and Development

Research at Göteborg (Padrigu)

• Social anthropology at Stockholm

• Biotechnology at Lund and KTH

• Public Health at Karolinska institutet, Stockholm

• International Maternal and Child Health, Uppsala

strong research environments cont.

• Land and Water Resources Engineering at Royal Inst of Technology, Stockholm

• Language studies in Uppsala and Stockholm

• South Asia Seminar, Uppsala• South Asia Social Sciences

(SASS) at Lund (sociology, economics, economic history, political science, human ecology)

• Totally 205 departments in Sweden (April 2007)

Partners in research and education

• An Asia Century Research School is organised by the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies in Copenhagen (NIAS) in collaboration with Nordic partners.

• Nordic Centre in India with a flat in Delhi and courses at the University of Hyderabad and other universities in India

• European Association for South Asian Studies - the 20th European Conference of Modern South Asian Studies, Manchester, 2008

• ENCARI, European Network on Contemporary Academic Research on India

Swedish/Nordic Competence

• Water, food technology, livelihood, and sustainable development, e.g. Research on arsenic contamination at KTH and Karolinska

• Public health, reproductive health

• Industrial pollution and environmental management

• Security, intra- and international relations and dynamics in South Asia

• Indic and South Asian religions, including Islam and Christianity

Swedish/Nordic Competence, cont.

• Nationalism and political development in South Asia

• Decentralisation, popular participation and the role of the state in development

• Situation of Dalits and Tribal people in India

• Gender and economic and political development

• Basic education, especially for women

Planning grants

Out of 56 Grants given upto 2004:

Technology, Natural Sciences 15 (27 %)

Medicine 9 (16 %)

Social Sciences 20 (36 %)

Humanities 10 (18 %)

Nordic Centre 2 (4%)

Planning grants, cont.

Some of the projects have involved some co-operation between the hard and the soft sciences, but rarely meant serious interaction in actual research projects. We believe that a more focused networking is necessary to achieve this.

Lack of competence

• Contemporary History

• Economics, Political Economy as well as Business Economics

• Contemporary South Asian Culture, incl Film, Literature and Arts

StrategyBesides the above activities:Focused networking to bring the hard and soft

sciences together in concrete projects:Examples:* Hiv/AIDS studies* Water issues* Biotechnology

Masters and PhD programmes with recruitment of South Asian students, or jointly with South Asian Universities, including sandwich programmes

Other desired projects

Combine South Asian and European competence in e.g. comparative religion, history projects, rural transformation, health, education, etc.

Avoid area studies, integrate with research worldwide

Finance Swedish doctoral students in fields like Economics, History and Cultural studies

Expectations

• Increased co-operation between South Asian and Nordic researchers

• More European funding for research and academic exchange

• More involvement in Business ventures

Examples of new collaboration• Institute of International Education, Stockholm University: Amir

Mansory and Pia Karlsson are setting up a Masters programme for women in collaboration with Nangarhar University in Jalalabad

• KTH building a new technical university in Sialkot, Pakistan, funded by the government of Pakistan

• Arsenic research network set up by Prosun Bhattacharya, Dept. Of Land and Water Resources, KTH, involving partners in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan

• School of Business, Göteborg, collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore

• Linnaeus Palme exchange programmes between a large number of Swedish and South Asian universities

http://www.sasnet.lu.se/education.html

South Asian students in Sweden

• Sandwich programmes. Example: R M D B Herath and Shanti Nandana Wijesinghe, PhD candidates from Sri Lanka at PADRIGU in Göteborg

• South Asian Masters students at Swedish universities. Example: Technology students from Hyderabad, India, at Kalmar University

IT University in Kista in 2005

• There were 515 International students at its masters programs in English. These programs attract students from all over the world from as many as 61 different countries.

Evaluation of SASNET in 2005

• Self-evaluation revealed certain weakness like slow progress in promoting cooperation between hard and soft sciences Link

• External evaluation was very positive but pointed out the need for increased funding and a sustained programme Link

Welcome to SASNET!Staffan Lindberg Lars Eklund Anna Lindberg

SASNET – web page: http://www.sasnet.lu.seScheelevägen 15 D, SE-223 70 Lund, Sweden

Phone: + 46 (0)46 222 73 40, fax: + 46 (0)46 222 30 41