Strengthening the ties: a student exchange programme between Japan and India

ABSTRACT

In this paper, an effort is made to explore the authors’ involvement as resource persons and facilitators in an exchange programme between Japan and India. The 15-day programme was created to understand the culture and rich heritage of India, particularly Rajasthan, by involving Japanese participants in a Tour based student exchange programme. The programme offered an opportunity for Japanese students to provide an experience of Indian culture through the use of various modules. The paper attempts to explore the impact of learning that took place during the period of the exchange programme, analysed through structured interviews. The findings of this study can facilitate effective creation and development of such exchange programmes in India and elsewhere.

KEYWORDS:

• Exchange programme
• structured interviews
• cultural practices

Acknowledgments

We thank the Japanese students for providing valuable feedback by voluntarily participating in the interview process. We also acknowledge the contribution made by the entire Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of the host University for their valuable input in conducting this programme.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

1. This model is based on earlier models by Yamazaki and Kayes (2004) and Kraft, Ballantine, and Garvey (1994).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sangeeta Sharma

Sangeeta Sharma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. She has made a contribution to classroom delivery, corporate connect and training, writing books and research papers, presenting papers at national and international conferences. She has published more than 25 books and 50 research papers in the area of gender studies, advertising, cultural studies, and communication in reputed journals. She is a licensed trainer for Springboard Development Program (U.K.).

P.C. Sande

P.C. Sande completed her ME and PhD from BITS Pilani. Her Doctoral thesis was in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations of reactors. She has more than 11 years of research and teaching experience, and is currently serving as Assistant Professor at Department of Chemical Engineering BITS, Pilani; Pilani campus, India. She has taught in courses including Thermodynamics, CFD, Petroleum engineering, Research Methodology and Technical communication. She has also pursued courses in creative writing. She also writes and researches on creative thinking and engineering education.