A small, relatively new Indian university is making a name for itself — nationally and internationally — in the rapidly growing field of sustainable development.
TERI University, the creation of one of India’s leading environmentalists, has won praise from industry executives and academics alike. They say the institution is tackling some of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, including poverty and pollution, and has the intellectual brainpower to make a difference.
In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, led by Rajendra Pachauri, TERI’s founder, won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore.
TERI’s strengths lie in its close relationship with its research-institute parent, the Energy and Resources Institute, founded by Mr. Pachauri in 1974.
Known for training specialists who help companies devise environmentally friendly practices, TERI University has created academic and research partnerships with Yale, North Carolina State, Michigan State, and Brandeis Universities; with the Free University of Berlin, and with the University of New South Wales, in Australia.
International universities consult with TERI University faculty members on how best to develop their curricula, or to learn more about how India is promoting sustainable development.
All students at TERI are required to take a broad range of courses in such subjects as economics, policy, sociology, and the hard sciences. But what makes the program special, supporters say, is the requirement that students intern with companies or government agencies, and tackle actual environmental projects, before they graduate.
“We don’t want the students to specialize as scientists but as environmental managers, so they can work in the organization they join as advisers on environmental issues,” says P.P. Bhojvaid, dean of academics.
Many of TERI University’s graduates have been snapped up by multinational companies like Suzlon Energy Limited, one of the world’s leading players in harnessing wind energy, and Ernst & Young, an accounting firm, which has hired graduates as environmental consultants for its clients.
Deep Ties to Research Institute
The Energy and Resources Institute is a nonprofit scientific and policy-research group, supported largely by private donors, that works with government and private-sector organizations on sustainability projects.
They include the development of mechanisms for eliminating crude-oil spills, the design of energy-efficient buildings, projects that help rural areas in India substitute cheap alternative-energy sources for expensive fuels, and work on stopping forest deterioration by involving local communities.
The institute’s researchers, all of whom have doctorates, specialize in fields such as botany, statistics, and economics. They also teach at the university, something that Chancellor Pachauri, the university’s founder, orchestrated.
“I found that with several other [research] institutions, over time, unless they are challenged academically they have a tendency to coast on their oars,” he says. “That can lead to attrition of knowledge and the institution losing its cutting edge.”
Today TERI University offers seven master’s degrees, in areas including natural-resources management, water-resources management, and public policy and sustainable development. It also offers doctorates in the broad areas of biotechnology, energy and environment, regulatory and policy studies, and natural-resources management. The student-faculty ratio is four to one.
Students assist researchers at TERI on projects that include reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, building wastewater-treatment systems, and helping townships manage waste in an environmentally friendly manner.
“After one year of course work, students jump in to live projects,” says Rajiv Seth, a senior administrator at the university. “They do one semester of independent study, which we call a minor project, and then a full semester of a major project with industry.”
To ensure that its graduates understand how their environmental projects will operate in the real world, the curriculum is a mix of social sciences and hard sciences. Students enrolled in water-resources management will also study policy issues, and students enrolled in public policy and sustainable development will also study pure sciences.
“TERI is very good at research-industry interface,” says Jai Kumar Gaurav, who graduated this year with a master’s degree in environmental studies. “India needs more courses like TERI’s, and they need to be courses that are more practical than theoretical. If you teach just theory, like most other universities do, companies don’t want you,” Mr. Gaurav adds. He now works with a British-based firm that helps companies use technology that releases fewer greenhouse gases.
“Given the complex environmental and development problems faced by the developing world, this kind of multidisciplinary, holistic, and innovative education provides excellent tools for young professionals brave enough to take on these challenging issues,” says Saurabh Dani, who works on disaster-risk management at the World Bank’s New Delhi office.
India’s top industrial houses also believe that’s the right mix.
“What they teach is very relevant to today’s context,” says Ulhas Parlikar, director of the alternative fuels and raw materials division of ACC Limited, a leading cement company in India. “Its graduates are multidimensional, are very willing to work in the field, and have passion for their work.”
Global Ambitions
The university’s next goal is to become more global, both in its curriculum and its student body.
“That is important because when it comes to environmental issues, we have a great deal to learn from others, and others can learn a great deal from us,” says Mr. Pachauri who taught at Yale University’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in 2000, when he was a McCluskey Fellow.
TERI University’s partnership with Yale reflects that interest. TERI students have worked on projects at Yale focused on forest dynamics in Chile. Yale students have come to TERI to study the environment and its effects on poverty, among other things.
“Our collaboration with TERI University is beneficial to both sides,” says Timothy Gregoire, a professor in the Yale forestry school. “It is imperative we remove the insularity of years past and become a global community.” He notes that Yale, which recently announced a multimillion-dollar investment in academic partnerships in India, has a long-term commitment to the country. “They view our collaboration with TERI University as a model on which to develop such relationships,” he says.
Mr. Pachauri says he would like to see TERI become an international institution. It has no foreign students now, but he hopes the student body will be about 20 to 30 percent international eventually. Today TERI has 300 students, 20 full-time faculty members, 30 adjuncts, and 20 visiting faculty members.
Last month the university moved into a new, two-acre “green” campus that includes many energy-saving fixtures. The most striking innovation is a ventilation tunnel designed to cool the main campus building without air conditioning. Faculty members will commute from the parent institute to the new campus, while doctoral students will continue to conduct research at the TERI laboratories.
“I don’t think we will need a major expansion, but who can say?” says Mr. Pachauri. “This is the right thing happening at the right time for right purpose.”
http://chronicle.com Section: International Volume 55, Issue 18, Page A20