Coastal Carolina University officials signed an agreement with the Ansal Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India, on Jan. 11 to establish an academic partnership allowing Indian students to earn a Coastal degree in business administration or computer science. Students enrolled in the program will study in India for the first three years before moving to Coastal to complete the five-year degree. The program’s first 30 students began taking classes in the fall 2000 semester and will arrive at Coastal in 2003.

“One of the unique aspects of this program is what our Indian counterparts call ‘twinning,’ ” said Coastal Provost John Idoux, who traveled to New Delhi with Val Dunham, dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, and Steve Nagle, director of International Programs at Coastal. “They are duplicating our curriculum exactly. The Indian faculty involved in teaching this program are all approved by Coastal, and they are using syllabi from 100 and 200 level courses offered at Coastal. The freshmen students enrolled in the program in India are taking the very same courses our students are taking; when they get to Coastal in 2003 they will be on the same footing as other junior business and computer science students.”

The recent agreement is the culmination of more than two years of development and preparation, according to Idoux. In 1998, M.P. Singh, director of the newly formed Ansal Institute of Technology in New Dehli, met with Coastal administrators to discuss the possibility of establishing an educational partnership between the two schools.

Founded by the Ansal Group, a prominent Indian business firm known for its significant support of education, the Ansal Institute of Technology is a four-year, degree-granting university with an emphasis on science, math and technology. The Ansal Institute insists on very high academic standards, according to Idoux. Unless students in the program maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average during the first three years, they won’t be recommended to transfer to Coastal for the completion of their degrees.

The Indian students who will begin arriving in 2003 will greatly enhance the diversity of the campus, says Idoux. They will live in Coastal residence halls and will gain from interacting with American students just as our students will learn from them. “I believe they will be outstanding students,” he said. “What makes a university is its students – an institution of higher learning is judged by the achievements of its graduates. Some of our best students will come from this program.”