Third Annual Meeting

at Bremen, December 6th and 7th, 2013

Minutes

Participants

• Aleksandra Jaskólska, Warsaw (from 2 pm until the end) Dipti Pandya, Dublin
• Donatella Dolcini, Milan
• Jos Gommans, Leiden
• Beate Zimpelmann, Bremen
• Friedrich Lehmann, Bremen (until 1 pm) Hans Jansen, Bremen
• Shazia Wülbers, Bremen
• Corinne Ghorbani, Bremen

Case of Force Majeure

Due to storm „Xaver“, many participants could not reach Bremen. Consequently, the attendees decided to re-program the meeting and hold it only on Friday.

New agenda

1. Welcome speeches
2. Presentations of the India Institutes 3. Open Discussion
4. New Presidency/Next meeting
5. Visibility of EAISC
6. Summary/Close

1. Welcome Speeches
Prof. Dr. Beate Zimpelmann, President of the Association, and Dr. Heike Tauerschmidt, Director of International Relations of Hochschule Bremen, welcome the participants.
Unfortunately, Consul General Dr Nair could not come to Bremen due to atrocious weather conditions and the ensuing risks of the journey.

2. Presentations of the India Institutes
Dublin, Leiden, Milan and Bremen present their institutes and fields of teaching and research.
NB: The presentations of all association members and Dublin are to be sent to Uwe for uploading on the association website.

3. Open Discussion
The participants describe and explain the foci of their respective institutes (fields of research and teaching). See annex.

In a group work session the participants try to find out the main points of common interest and research using metaplanning.

Three main fields emerged.
The major field every Centre is active and interested in is:
1) South Asian Politics and Culture – EU/India Comparison
or expressed in another way, i.e. “India and Europe in a Globalizing World – Comparison and Connections”.

The other two main common fields of interest are:
2) Comparison of Sustainability Politics in EU and India (some overlaps to field 1)
3) Business in India - Innovation and Creating of Study programmes

Further minor topics:
- Heritage Studies
- Journalism/Media

These common fields should be the basis of new common projects. Each member is asked to formulate concrete project ideas and look for appropriate calls in the home country. The discussion is to be continued in Pune in March and in Milan in May 2014.

4. New Presidency 2014/Next meeting 2014
Milan is not “eligible” since Donatella is going to retire.
Aarhus coordinates the Erasmus-Mundus project already and should not be in charge of further responsibilities.
Leiden would like to take over the presidency in 2015.
Reutlingen remains the only eligible member for the Presidency 2014.
The final vote and handing over of the presidency will take place at the next EAISC meeting in Milan planned for May 2014.

5. Visibility of EAISC

a) Website

According to Uwe, the EAISC website is being established and will be finalised by IIT Madras. Please send contributions to Uwe (i.e. presentations of institute).

b) Newsletter

Suggestions: twice a year, responsibility lies with President. All members are requested to make pertinent contributions.

c) Publications

Suggestions:

Publications of excellent BA and MA theses with India focus (i.e. two theses in a book)
Working paper series, one issue per semester. Shazia Wülbers, Bremen, kindly agrees to be in charge of the job.
General information: Manipal Press, directed by Neeta Inamdar, may edit, promote and distribute any publication of ours at a reasonable price.

6. Summary/Close

• • Each member of the association is going to receive the minutes of the meeting for comment and will complete the attachment, adding its own fields of research/teaching before sending it back to Bremen. Bremen will finalise the database and dispatch it to Aarhus for uploading on the EAISC website.
  • The minutes will be the basis for further discussions among the association members when meeting at the IBIES conference in Pune later in March.
  • Till March, the members should come up with concrete suggestions for the publications and newsletters. They should also probe into possible funding in their respective countries.
  • The agenda of the Milan meeting should be finalised in Pune in March in order to launch potential common projects in May.
  • The members of the association should sign an Erasmus+ agreement with the other members in order to get the association trips financed by the EU (staff mobility).