The Hindu : New Delhi News : From Brown’s land with curiosity

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Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
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New Delhi

From Brown’s land with curiosity

Madhur Tankha

the Indian lesson: The British Prime Minister’s global fellows at India Gate in Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Forty bright and adventurous students from Britain came calling here over the weekend as part of the six-week-long Global Fellowship programme that intends to nurture outstanding talent and enterprise through exposure to different countries and their lifestyles, cultures and business environments.

During their visit, the students will get a chance to learn about India’s emerging economy, its linguistic and cultural diversity, the new globalised situation for business and the skills required to harness the opportunities in the 21st Century.

The students’ stay in India has been split into three distinct phases, with each phase lasting two weeks. During the first phase, the fellows will be introduced to Indian languages, Hindi in Delhi and Tamil in Chennai, attend interactive sessions on business environment, the education system, society and governance, visit historic monuments, business units and other enterprising organisations.

From July 28, ten fellows will remain in Delhi while others will stay in Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai The second phase involves placement in schools where the fellows would get to experience Indian school life and will work on a research project on a variety of themes including “Changes in society,” “Education and learning,” “Environment” and “Global citizenship.” During this phase, they will stay with the families of children from the participating schools which will introduce them to the Indian home environment and family values.

The final two weeks will see the fellows attached to multi-national British and Indian firms getting exposure about their global mission and vision, operations, business environment, industry standards, and also how the companies interact with the wider community for corporate social responsibility programmes.

On their return home the students who are a part of the British Prime Minister’s Fellowship programme, will share their experience of their stay in India with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at his 10 Downing Street residence. The programme aims to build a network of young Britishers with a personal understanding of global citizenship and a well-grounded insight into the skills needed to compete in the increasingly globalised world.

The fellows were selected from over 400 applicants on the basis of their communication skills, independent approach, flexibility in adapting to new cultures and ability to make most of the international experience.

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