Early this morning, the nine faculty members from India left Germantown for Montgomery College's Rockville Campus. Professor Mario Parcan, coordinator of the construction management program, served as host as the men attended two courses, CT130 Construction Methods and Materials and CT286 Construction Planning and Scheduling.
After Professor Parcan visited India, he wrote his reflections about his experience, and I wanted to take the opportunity to share snippets of what he wrote because his interest in continuing the dialogue with his Indian colleagues finally became a reality.
"I believe that the trip to India provided us the opportunity
to complete our first required task which was to familiarize ourselves with the
educational structure, reality, limitations and potential of the higher
education sector in India. This will eventually allow us to elaborate a plan
for academic dialogue, faculty and/or student exchange and possible future
involvement of our programs....
...Both the symposium and our
visits to the different educational institutions gave me the opportunity to
start a dialogue with our Indian colleagues and initially expose our
Construction Management program to faculty and students.... The community college
model, perhaps recently introduced, needs time to develop and grow and I do
believe that we can make significant contributions in this area. The timing is
right.
I believe that this visit to India has allowed me to revive
my sense of social responsibility and commitment towards globalization,
particularly as it pertains to the academic sector. We have both an opportunity
and a responsibility to lead a meaningful effort, one that may introduce
significant alternatives to education in India, one that will enrich our own
lives and provide us all with a different academic, social and cultural
perspective."