MUMBAI: Summer, for the long holidays and the scorching heat it brings along, is often compared to a vacuum: hours evaporating as adult-teens laze around with little to do. Besides hobbies, there is little to keep them occupied, unlike the suite of summer schools in the West on several subjects, some providing advanced knowledge and others a primer on hot topics that the world is brooding over.
Finally, the penny's dropped here. This year, the lights at HR College didn't go off during the holidays. All through April, King's College, London, hosted intensive courses at the HR College campus on topics like international marketing, quantitative methods and statistics and international political economy. Close by, St Xavier's College ran a week-long school called 'Land and Natural resources: Justice Issues'. At NM College, courses on insurance and international financial reporting standards were houseful.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a lecturer at the department of European and international studies at King's College, put together a fat pack of courseware for his summer school students at HR College. In 10 days, he sought to explain the interplay of politics and economics at the global level, starting with international relations and globalization to trade policies and financial regulations to FDI with a focus on Asia. "Most students had done their reading, they were tracking news and global development very closely," said Pardo.
In another class, Michael Bedward, an enterprise management lecturer and a business consultant, taught different models of business to budding entrepreneurs in a course called 'The Entrepreneur: Skills and Smart Thinking'. "Students are not sceptical about entrepreneurship and they have some fascinating business ideas," said Bedward, who became very popular for handing over a lemon to shy participants who never spoke in class.
Unlike the older generations who had little to do between college years, summer school holidays for young adults are proving to be grounds for arming oneself with additional life skills or honing talents at intensive camps. Tanmaya Kale of Jai Hind, who paid Rs 30,000 to attend summer school at HR College, said, "Here, I got an insight into so many topics that are globally so crucial. I wasn't spoon-fed; communication wasn't one-way and the course was on real issues."
For summer school participants at St Xavier's College, the experience was like opening the window and taking in some reality - at times ugly, at times surprisingly assuring. Agnelo Menezes from the department of economics said teaching through the year is mostly restricted to the text books. "Summer school allowed us to synchronize reality with theory." For Rs 500, students could listen to top bankers, sociologists, advocates and activists who spoke on various topics for close to ten days. "There was an overflow of students wanting to attend these lectures," said Menezes. The lecture series, which was not open to outsiders, included a documentary and field trips.
Finally, the penny's dropped here. This year, the lights at HR College didn't go off during the holidays. All through April, King's College, London, hosted intensive courses at the HR College campus on topics like international marketing, quantitative methods and statistics and international political economy. Close by, St Xavier's College ran a week-long school called 'Land and Natural resources: Justice Issues'. At NM College, courses on insurance and international financial reporting standards were houseful.
Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a lecturer at the department of European and international studies at King's College, put together a fat pack of courseware for his summer school students at HR College. In 10 days, he sought to explain the interplay of politics and economics at the global level, starting with international relations and globalization to trade policies and financial regulations to FDI with a focus on Asia. "Most students had done their reading, they were tracking news and global development very closely," said Pardo.
In another class, Michael Bedward, an enterprise management lecturer and a business consultant, taught different models of business to budding entrepreneurs in a course called 'The Entrepreneur: Skills and Smart Thinking'. "Students are not sceptical about entrepreneurship and they have some fascinating business ideas," said Bedward, who became very popular for handing over a lemon to shy participants who never spoke in class.
Unlike the older generations who had little to do between college years, summer school holidays for young adults are proving to be grounds for arming oneself with additional life skills or honing talents at intensive camps. Tanmaya Kale of Jai Hind, who paid Rs 30,000 to attend summer school at HR College, said, "Here, I got an insight into so many topics that are globally so crucial. I wasn't spoon-fed; communication wasn't one-way and the course was on real issues."
For summer school participants at St Xavier's College, the experience was like opening the window and taking in some reality - at times ugly, at times surprisingly assuring. Agnelo Menezes from the department of economics said teaching through the year is mostly restricted to the text books. "Summer school allowed us to synchronize reality with theory." For Rs 500, students could listen to top bankers, sociologists, advocates and activists who spoke on various topics for close to ten days. "There was an overflow of students wanting to attend these lectures," said Menezes. The lecture series, which was not open to outsiders, included a documentary and field trips.
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