Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence: India-EU Interdisciplinary Studies - Culture, Literature, Education and Society (IEIS-CLES)

Manipal Centre for European Studies (MCES) has always aimed to be a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary platform for European Studies thus going beyond the traditional area studies departments’ mandates. Basic belief in focusing on interdisciplinary was that people-to-people contact makes significant difference in the relation between the two regions than political or diplomatic relations alone. As a natural progression of these activities, a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in India-EU Interdisciplinary Studies – Culture, Literature, Education and Society (CLES) was the next step for MCES and within a decade of the department’s inception, this goal has been achieved.

Having recieved this prestigious award, through this centre, MCES aims to enhance educational connect between India and Europe by generating interest and creating awareness about European people, literature, culture, and society among Indians and stimulate similar response from the Europeans towards Indian culture and philosophy.

Over the course of next three years, the following activities will be carried out under JM-CoE IEIS-CLES.

Teaching activities

The teaching activities refer to the open elective courses that will be open for students from all disciplines at the MAHE campus

• Watching’ Europe – Understanding European Culture and Society through Cinema
• European Literature in Indian Regional Languages
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in the Indian Context
• Ethics and Epics – Understanding Philosophies of Life in India and Europe

Events

MCES has been organizing workshops and international conferences on a wide range of topics from intercultural communication to internationalization of higher education. Through this centre the department will continue to create opportunities and open platforms for young researchers and academicians to be able to learn, network and have an open dialogue on a wide array of topics.

• Conference on Ten Years of European Studies in India
• India-EU Higher Education Meet
• Lecture Series on India-EU Cultural Connect
• Workshops on European Literature
• Winter Schools – Dialogues on India-EU Intellectual Synergies

Research Groups

The research groups will not just focus on generating substantial research output in the areas in and surrounding European Studies but also create more awareness about the same.

• Formation of Local Jean Monnet Team of Experts for EU Studies and Outreach
• Formation of Young Researchers Forum in EU Studies (YRF)

Principal Coordinator : Dr Neeta Inamdar, Professor & Head,

                                      Department of European Studies, MAHE, Manipal