India is a large market with smart students

Students must get opportunity to work directly with entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley, writes academician John D Simon

The focus on experiential learning and interdisciplinary studies best sum up the US study experience, says John D Simon, president of Lehigh University, adding, “We encourage innovation right from the undergraduate level where students from a wide range of disciplines are engaged in deep dives, working alongside fellow students, faculty, and external partners. They take ownership of the projects, which run the gamut from Bioengineering and Genetics to urban design and preventive healthcare.”

Simon says, “The university has launched a programme called Startup Academy – a three-month summer internship alongside a credit-bearing course that places students with startups in Silicon Valley. Students intern with early to mid-stage startups that are part of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center ecosystem where we are the sole educational providers. By pushing themselves beyond their comfort zones, students are exposed to the startups’ inner workings through projects, including market research, data analysis and global market expansion strategies.”

ENTREPRENEURSHIP VERSUS DEGREES

Besides entrepreneurship and innovation, it is important to complete one’s bachelor’s degree, says Simon. “After all, not everyone is Bill Gates. Let the young innovate to create jobs but not at the cost of their degrees since that is what will give them a longterm employment, and for international students, a return on investment,” he adds.

Stating that Lehigh University has comprehensive plans for India, Simon says,“India is a large market with smart students. We have faculty in supply chain management collaborating with IIT Delhi and another collaborative venture on polymers with IIT Chennai.”

In recent times, Ashoka University has partnered with Lehigh University to give its students first-hand access to India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. “A group of our students interned in India this summer which helped them to navigate across cultures and embrace collaboration with people from diverse backgrounds,” Simon adds. Angelica Benares for instance, one of the university interns, who met entrepreneurs, investors and professionals across Indian industries, felt India’s distinct social class structure played a significant role in company culture.

By travelling around the country, she also witnessed the industrious life inside a slum as well as the luxurious lifestyles of India’s elite.

EMPLOYABILITY

Simon, while looking at the employment prospects in the US, is of the opinion that they are predicated on innovation and creativity, which is also what makes the US education attractive. “On the whole, US universities follow the liberal arts model– involving creative thinking, knowledge across disciplines, broad education along with depth of knowledge in the area that one chooses. Hence, the idea is to train the mind to new ways of thinking, teamwork, application of academic knowledge to real-world problems,” Simon says.

RESEARCH

“In the sphere of research, there has been a good deal of work in fields such as computer science, personalised medicine, healthcare space, nanotechnology, data science, social sciences, digital humanities, to mention a few,” informs Simon. He explains, “Our universities impart mindset training to students on ways to execute their research — a method which is long and arduous.

And while attaining a PhD usually takes around 5-6 years, at the end of it, many students who come to the US to pursue research-based programmes, want to stay on as professors and academicians or work in US industries.”