Masters students discuss international security in Delhi

Thirteen students from the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences have gained new perspectives on international security after joining 12 other students from around the world to complete an intensive subject in Delhi, India.

The Universitas 21 Advanced International Study subject is a collaborative initiative between the University of Melbourne, University of Birmingham and University of Delhi. In 2011 it was a five-day intensive subject hosted by the University of Delhi from 31 January to 4 February.

Dr David Mickler of the University of Melbourne’s School of Social and Political Sciences travelled to Delhi as the subject co-ordinator.

“The main aim of the subject was to provide our students with a unique cross-cultural learning and teaching experience by enabling them to study for a week in India and to engage substantively with students and teaching staff from the three different universities. This was also particularly conducive to the subject material: studying International Relations while practising international relations,” he says.

Dr Mickler said the subject’s theme of ‘Security in a Globalised World: New and Emerging Challenges’, taught by academic experts from the three participating universities, covered a number of challenging and important contemporary issues.

“We explored key questions about who is to be secured, from what threats, and how? We looked at how the processes of globalisation have asked us to think differently about security and threats without borders. Perhaps most importantly, students were exposed to ideas and concepts related to security in a different cultural and political context,” he says.

Ms Brooke Kelly, Master of International Relations student, completed the subject.

“I am preparing for a career in international relations so I think it is imperative to engage in learning about issues in different contexts and from different perspectives,” she says.

“I wanted to participate in this subject in order to gain international experience in studying security, and to engage in an exchange of ideas with people who deal with a significantly different security paradigm from that I had previously studied.”

Ms Kelly says her favourite aspect of the subject were the discussions she had with her peers and lecturers.

“Upon arrival we discovered that we were a group of students from 13 different countries from five continents: Africa, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Simply put, there is no better way to engage in the learning experience about issues of security in a globalising world than in a classroom with bright individuals from around the world.”

Ms Kelly says the most influential aspect of the subject was the diverse perspectives on common issues which challenged her to rethink theoretical viewpoints of international relations.

“One of the lecturers, Achin Vanaik, had a refreshingly open viewpoint of the international system, nuclear weapons, terrorism and the US’s role in each of these critical issues. He showed me in North American and Australian mainstream academia, the audacity to challenge the US’s role in increasingly threatening issues of security is somewhat absent, but nevertheless crucial.”

At the end of the intensive, students took part in a day trip travelling by coach to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Some students, including Ms Kelly, took the opportunity to gain some personal travel experiences in India before the subject started.

The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Mark Considine, who was instrumental in developing the three-university agreement to create the new subject, says he was inspired by the sense of engagement and enthusiasm among the student group and their teachers.

“I visited them at the end of the second day and you could sense the challenging atmosphere and the passion for ideas,” he says.

“Who knows where the friendship and networks established by putting 25 top students from 13 countries together will lead, but it is certain that there will be powerful outcomes.”

Melbourne students who took the subject were eligible for a travel support grant through the Melbourne Global Scholarship program and the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences also provided some extra funding.

Dean Considine said that he hoped a Delhi program would run again in early 2012 and that other similar programs would soon be available in Jakarta and Beijing.

Students who completed the subject were studying one of the following degrees:

• Master of International Relations
• Master of Development Studies
• Master of Development Studies (Gender and Development)
• Master of Public Policy and Manage- ment
• Master of Global Media Commun- ications

To learn more about these programs, visit
www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/graduate.