School of Health & Social Sciences - International Blog

Day 9 – Wednesday 29th April

2009-04-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

So here we are, our last day in India. I woke up at a pleasant 10am thanks to Mark banging on the door. The reason for the oversleeping this morning was a long conversation on skype last night which was followed by me watching the Chelsea versus Barcelona match until 2am. It was ok though as this was our final day and we had a well earned rest day to end the trip.

Following Marks door banging, I legged it down to the restaurant in time to have breakfast and then after grabbing my things from the room, joined Mark by the pool for some R&R for a couple of hours. We both sat and read, Ipods in, totally chilling, with spells in the pool when the heat was getting to intense (every 15 minutes!).
Before going to the pool I covered myself in suntan lotion, but judging by the red patches on me now I must have done my usual trick of splashing lotion quickly and missing areas (I now have red areas on my chest, upper arm and just above the knee!). Ah well!

After a quick shower following the pool we were picked up by santosh at around 2pm. He took us to do some sightseeing. We saw the State court building, parliament building, a huge public park and an aquarium. All very impressive and we both got some great photos. We then went for some food – Mark and Santosh went for some Indian dish but I played it safe and got a subway due to visions of spending nine hours in an aeroplane toilet tomorrow!

The place we had our food was a mall owned by the owner of kingfisher airline and beer, its fair to say we were impressed. It was fantastic, the interior was incredible for a mall and Mark described it as like a palace (I cant remember the exact word he used). The amazing thing was though that it was full of all the global designer names you can think of (including rolex, apple, louis vuitton etc) but it was empty! So how they are making any money we could not figure out.
From the palace mall we went to some markets to complete our shopping and then headed back to the hotel feeling pretty tired.

After a quick dropping of backs, myself and Mark went to enjoy our daily free drinks, which were as pleasant as usual and then retired to our rooms for the night so im here typing this final blog entry. I have packed my bags, and plan to have a quick nap before waking at 12.15 to watch the mighty Manchester united (yes Mick I did say MIGHTY!) play Arsenal. I figured that the game will finish at around 2am and we have to be downstairs at 3.45am to pay the bill and leave at 4am for the airport, so I will stay awake.

Well, that’s it for this blog, its been a pleasure writing and filming for you. I hope its been informative and at least mildly interesting!!!

Talk to you again soon!!!

Day 8 - Video

2009-04-29T06:14:00.001-07:00

Day 8 – Tuesday 28th April

2009-04-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today I was excited to get out of bed early for a change. The occasion – a warm shower! The club hotel offered many services, but for my room at least a warm shower wasn’t one of them unfortunately! It wasn’t a big problem, apart from the first brave leap into the cold flow of water at 8am. I would usually start with the arms, take a deep breath and then jump and hit the icy water head on.

Anyway……

From the shower and after nice buffet breakfast, we were collected by Santosh who whisked us to the first of our two scheduled appointments for the day. It was to a government all-womens college. With 3,000 students enrolled aged between 18-22 it was an impressive institute. The campus was big and seemed to be expanding or renovating everywhere.

We were in a meeting with the heads of various departments and the head of the whole institute. The meeting left myself and Mark feeling extremely positive, more so I would so then after the meetings with the two institutes in Mumbai. It turns out that the college has been eager for international partnerships and once we have sent them a letter outlining possible collaberation they will present this to the ruling body for permission to accept and then get the ball rolling. They have a Psychology department, big sports pedigree (they expressed a keen interest in the elite sports squad when we explained it to them) and also student counsellors amongst other things that we can see potential in. Again, we will explain in greater detail about the intricacies of what was discussed but we felt very encouraged by their interest, enthusiams and the opportunities that were discussed.

The meeting lasted about 2 hours and their excitement at our presence was obvious with the head of one department taking pictures of the meeting at different times and then the events that followed. They took us into classrooms to say hello to students, took more pictures of us all and introduced us to academics including the science department!

The academics from this department then took us around their labs and museum also. Their reaction to us was very kind and flattering. Mark in particular was treated like a rockstar with myself and Santosh following him and his fans! (we talked about the biggest snakes he had seen in India while walking around the labs watching Mark sign autographs!)One of the science academics then asked me if i was a student which was also amusing!
They were all extremely welcoming to us which wont be forgotten.

Summarising, we feel highly enthusiastic about a future fruitful collaberation with the institute.

We moved on then to have a fantastic lunch in an Afghanistan themed restaurant. It was superb food which we thoroughly enjoyed. From there we had a quick walk through the market and then onto our final appointment with an NGO that Santosh had close contact with.

From a personal point of view, I left this meeting feeling the most positive I had after any on the trip. The guy we spoke to – Ashok (from SICHREM) was really friendly and explained what work they did. Myself and Mark immediately saw great ways in which we can collaberate to mutually benefit both parties. There are many options which I believe could raise our profile significantly and recruit students. These possibilities don’t seem to complicated either, but I will stop there before my enthusiasm for this one spills over into another 4 pages for this blog post!

From the meeting we headed back to the hotel, thanked santosh and went for swim in the pool. Later in the evening we enjoyed an hour and a half of free drinks – which is always good I admit!

And its now 12.15 here so I will finish this by slurring ‘goodnight!!’

Day 7 - Video

2009-04-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Day 7 – Monday 27th April

2009-04-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Today we woke at around 6.30am to get ready for Manoa to pick us up at 7.30am and take us to the airport for our 9am flight to Bangalore.

As I woke early I spoke to Mark on the phone and then thought I would lie in bed another 15 minutes then get up and shower. But the next thing I knew I was being woken up by a banging on the door and there was Mark ready to go saying its gone 7am and Manoa was downstairs. Ooops. I was already packed, so I had to skip a shower and leg it down to catch up.

Luckily after that early morning hold up we managed to get to the airport on time as traffic seemed a bit less crazy for once. Getting our tickets and luggage checked was also smooth. The fun began when we went through security for the departure lounge with our bags. Once through they asked Mark if he had any liquids in his bag – ‘no’ he replied, but then remembered he did have some whiskey left over (only once the security guy had taken it out of the bag and waved it infront of him!!). This was not a major problem and Mark just had to pour it away. The security guard then asked if there was anymore liquid in there, to which Mark again replied ‘no’.
We were both surprised then when the guard pulled out another bottle of whiskey (a full one this time) which switched on a lightbulb in Mark's head prompting a reply of ‘ah that’s my duty free I cant pour that away!!’ I was at this point trying desperately not to laugh as he was sent back through security to go and check the bag with the bottle in it.

Mark then returned and there is me laughing as we walked off until I opened my bag and found a full bottle of coke they had missed also!! I think its fair to say that had we been in the states we would probably be halfway on our way to Guantanamo bay right now for trying to sneak liquids on board an aircraft.

After all that hullabaloo we eventually made it through to the the flight which was fantastic, with great service and comfort. It was Kingfisher airlines which we just found out started only a couple of years ago following Kingfisher beer. Upon arrival we were met immediately by a gentleman heavily armed with a suit and a smile who took our bags to the car which brought us to the hotel.

Our immediate impressions of Bangalore were that it seems far more developed and modernised then Mumbai. There were far less (if any) signs of poverty or pollution on the 40min drive, compared to the high levels we would see driving in Mumbai. The roads were new and actually had lane markings on them (a luxury Mumbai did not have in most parts) and the traffic was far more controlled. Also, the airport is only 10months old and is very impressive indeed.

After the journey we checked in and explored the hotel which is in a different league to the club in Mumbai.

Following some chill time and a quick walk around we met Santosh from New Directions Overseas Education Company. The meeting lasted around 2 hours and we told him about the school and what we have to offer. He was very encouraging about what he can do for us in terms of recruiting students.
Again, he sees great potential in MSc Psychology and MSc Health and Nutrition. He also was very impressed with the work of TELLS and Second life. We also explained to him about the Elite Sports Squad which he believes will also attract many further students. He also has a student interested in studying MSc Sports Coaching and tried to get him here for us to talk to but the student is currently in Chennai. So we will await progress on this.

There is plenty more on this meeting to feedback on and a busy and potentially fruitful schedule for us tomorrow so I will leave that there for now.

Mark is swimming, im blogging and skyping, then we are having free cocktails at 7pm and an Indian barbecue to round of our first day in Bangalore.
Not bad eh!!!

Day 6 - Video

2009-04-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Day 6 – Sunday 26th April

2009-04-27T03:28:00.000-07:00

Today was our rest day and it started at about 9am with a call from Mark to see if I was awake!

Unfortunately the young Indian lady (quite a character) who had asked if she could ‘steal some of our time’ (in those exact words) for a radio interview in the morning did not contact Mark so we asked for a driver and headed out for a day of sightseeing.

The video will show the sights better, but we saw the Taj Mahal hotel which is impressive in both size and style and also the gateway to India, also equally impressive.

We were invited to buy a wide variety of things (most legal, some illegal!) by street sellers as we moved amongst the sights. The legal souvenirs on offer included giant balloons (which I would have loved had it not been for the weight allowance of our luggage and the size of the overhead compartments of course), maps, postcards etc. Amongst the stranger things I personally was asked to buy (much to Marks amusement) was a crate of baby milk for a young girls baby sister. The tattoo of ‘Charity’ has now been removed from my forehead.

Anyway….. This was the first time we were in the heat for prolonged periods having become used to hopping from air conditioned car to air conditioned meeting rooms for the majority of the trip. So a break for an air conditioned lunch was appreciated before more sightseeing.

We then visited the main relaxing park in Mumbai (there aren’t many parks), marine walk which provides great views over the water of the Mumbai skyline and we then headed back to the hotel to chill out and have dinner at TGI Fridays and an early night.

Tomorrow we head off for Bangalore, which im told has far spicier Indian food then Mumbai – yum yum, my stomach is already rumbling (or perhaps griping?) at the prospect.

Au Revoir

Day 5 - Video

2009-04-26T00:56:00.000-07:00

Click here to view in HD

Day 5 – Friday 25th April

2009-04-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Woke up with more energy today and raring to go (well almost!). After a quick breakfast by the pool in the hotel Mark and I headed into the car where we were joined by Purnakala and Ashish along with our loyal driver. Our destination was the University of Mumbai to meet a contact there within one of the faculties.

The traffic was crazy as usual on the journey which took around 45 minutes. When arriving on the campus our first thoughts were that some of the buildings looked new and impressive whilst others were clearly old and earmarked for development. There were plenty of students milling about and the mood seemed relaxed.

We met the Head of the Department of Philosophy and discussed several possibilities for just over an hour. There was great interest on her behalf in the work of our Sociology team (Gideon, Steve, Enzo), the new Social Ethics and Public Advocacy MA and also the schools research work. We left feeling very positive about the meeting and the potential for further discussions which could lead to benefits for our school in numerous ways, including student recruitment.

From the University we went to the student fair for a few hours. As I had missed it yesterday I came away from it today with many thoughts. Firstly, it differs from UCAS fairs I have experienced in that the stands are far grander with more space for banners, posters and visuals (laptop demonstrations), as mark mentions in the video the parents come with their children which I haven’t experienced at any UCAS fairs.

I also noticed that we were the only westerners in the exhibition and this did draw extra attention to our stand – I noted many students walking past our stand seemingly uninterested, then glanced at myself and Mark, paused and came over to see what we had to offer.

I believe if we attended a fair similar to this again in the near future we can use this knowledge to be better prepared in terms of visual stands and also have something that is high in demand from the enquiries we have had (MSc in both Psychology and Health,Exercise and Nutrition).

There is a great belief amongst people we have spoken to here that these two courses have great potential in India especially at postgraduate level.

I had long discussions with one Indian girl who was interested in studying BSc Psychology, she seemed very keen and I spoke to her mother too, her brother was there and asked me about civil engineering – they have my contact details now so fingers crossed we will hear from them through NBeducational at some point!

From the fair we went to the NBeducational offices for another discussion with a student, again things were learnt about the demands of the Indian student.

We then headed back to the hotel, and even popped out for some shopping a couple of cold ones, just reward for another busy day.

Over and out from this sunny ex-colony.

The clock tower at Mumbai University
Image supplied by Babasteve

Day 4 – Thursday 24th April

2009-04-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

Today unfortunately I was restricted to my hotel room with the task of consuming vast amounts of bottled water to try and clear whatever bug is thriving in my stomach and draining the energy!

I hope its having fun because I am certainly not! I came here to sell the school to potential students and I also wanted to experience everything India had to offer during the trip - though the infamous Delhi Belly was not on my list of 'must try'!!

Though as I write this I feel a bit brighter and will hopefully be able to eat a proper meal (certainly not curry!) later today.

Mark had an appointment with TISS – Tata Institute of Social Sciences and went on to the fair to meet up with the NBeducational agents on our stand. He said that the meeting with TISS reps went very well and there is interest on their part in a variety of things we have to offer – perhaps staff, student exchanges, phd’s etc.

Mark was also encouraged by the enquiries we had at the fair.

There is a strong belief gathered from enquirers (and also all other meetings we have had on the trip so far) that an MSc Psychology would recruit very very well here in India and there is also great potential for MSc Health, Exercise and Nutrition with Obesity awareness, healthy eating etc very current in India.

Tomorrow is the 2nd day of the fair, after a meeting with Mumbai University which both Mark and I will attend.

Till then then!

Day 3 - Videos

2009-04-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Day 3 – Thursday 23rd April

2009-04-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today I woke feeling a bit worse for wear – perhaps after over-indulging last night in more spicy (but less hot then night before) chicken Indian curry, garlic toast and banana split (plus the daily intake of a couple of kingfisher beers). It wasnt’t until today when I felt bit under the weather that I read in the travel guidance docs I have that its ‘recommended’ that we don’t eat ice cream here – so I guess ill remember that for next time!

Mark also had banana split and he's OK, although he asked for the date pancake originally only to be told by the waiter very discreetly ‘don’t have that sir, its horrible’. The honesty here is clear in every situation!!
Anyway that was last night…….

Today day started when our driver collected us and drove us to the NB educational offices where they had lined up some students for us to talk to.

We spent all day in a small room talking to 4 different student groups about the University, studying in the UK and Wales etc. Unfortunately they had interest in business which if we are honest is not what we were looking for, but it still proved a very worthwhile exercise.
This is because we gained an insight into the demands of the Indian student – what they look for in a University. From a marketing perspective this is a key aspect and we learnt lots throughout the day.

When the interviews were complete the clock said it was about 4.45pm so we came back to the hotel to chill out and take some video footage of the crazy roads here – their rush hour seems to be continuing at 8pm, but you will see this for yourself on the videos.

We also learnt from discussions with Ashish and through witnessing it ourselves, the changing culture here in India from a social/leisure aspect. In the last 3 years several big shopping malls have been built (video shows this in one next door to our hotel) and these are used in the evenings by young Indian people to gather with their friends and 'hang out' for the evenings. This is because of the lack of parks in the city and also the air conditioned entertainment filled environment these malls provide. see for yourself in the video!!!

Tomorrow is the first of 2 very long days at the student fairs for me (11am-7/8pm) and meetings for Mark, so early nights all round and a ‘talk to you soon', from exotic (and spicy!) India.

Video diary - Day 2

2009-04-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Please click here to view in high res

Day 2 – Wednesday 22nd April

2009-04-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today was the first full day here in India and it turned out to be both a highly productive and busy one.

After a nice and very cheap breakfast (I had 3 pieces of toast with jam, bowl of corn flakes & pineapple juice for just under £2 in total) we were collected by our driver and taken to meet a lady named Pinki who represents an agency called SIEC at 11am at their offices.

We got into the car having no clue where the offices were, or how long it would take to get there, but were still really suprised and a bit embarrassed when the driver took us left out of the complex, to the traffic lights, U-Turned and then turned left and said ‘we are here sirs’ (5 minute walk away). Feeling like a stereotypical lazy Brit abroad I got out of the car and followed Mark up into the office.

The meeting lasted about 1 hour and a half and was productive, although we got the same message about the high demand for business MBA from Indian students, we stuck to what we have to offer and came away with some positive feedback and food for thought about current courses we have and also future things we could develop to suit the demands of the Indian market. The information we provided about our ability to offer distance learning through second life and other technologies also went down very well with the fact that the recession might make this option even more appealing to the Indian student made clear to us.

Following this meeting we met our driver who had been patiently waiting outside and he took us for a quick stop for lunch (im ashamed to say It was to mcdonalds – but after last nights head-blowing hot curry I wanted something tried and tested!) and then onto the next meeting with ‘The Combine Company’.

This meeting lasted again around an hour and a half and we came away feeling more positive then after the first one, with the agent highlighting a growing interest in ‘niche’ subject areas including Health, exercise and nutrition (specifically Weight/obesity management) and also Criminology. There was even greater interest in our Technology learning support from this agent and he was directed to the TELLS Second life site, he seemed like an IT friendly guy so im sure he will be on there already!!!!

A 15 minute drive then took us to our final meeting of the day to meet Meenu Agarwal from ‘International Placement Consultants’. It lasted around 2 hours and left us both feeling extremely optimistic about the potential of our school in this market. Again, further more detailed feedback will be provided about the meetings, but this one in particular satisfied our beliefs that we have a place in the market here and that students are perhaps looking to our courses as India develops as a nation and its students look for different things to MBA’s.

After the meeting we went back to the hotel, went to the pool, beat off the pigeons there and then tried to cross the crazy road infront of the hotel complex (which apparently has no crossing) to get to a restaurant. After further walking and car dodging without success, we resorted to the fine food at the hotel and then called it a night.

* todays videos will be uploaded tomorrow when the internet is quick enough!!!

Till tomorrow………

Day 1 India - arrival

2009-04-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Small video outside airport and in taxi going to the airport.

Click here to watch this in high res

Better videos to come!

Tuesday 21st April - Arrival in Mumbai

2009-04-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 21st April

Arrival in Mumbai

After a long flight which lasted over 8 and a half hours from London Heathrow, Mark and I landed safely in Mumbai and followed usual practice by gathering our luggage and then heading out of the airport.

As soon as we had cleared customs with our bags and edged towards the exit there was mad shouting at us from 5 different reps from diff companies trying to sell us Rupees (Indian currency), after choosing one company we got some currency and headed out in the heat (approx 40c) outside.

From there we found the guy holding a card with Marks name on it, got into his car and he took us to the hotel. The journey was interesting with the mini taxis (shown in video) and all the cars driving where they like, with no lanes on the road, its amazing that there weren't any crashes and Mark rightly commented that hes surprised there aren't more cars with dents in the side of them!!!!
But luckily we made it to the hotel, which is nice, though we have had trouble with the internet and my room had 3 bowls full of onions in them when i walked in, so it was very pungent in there!!

After dropping our bags and having an hour or so to chill out, we headed to the NBeducational offices and met the staff there. We had about an hour long meeting with Purnakala's colleague, who is very switched on and open to what we have to offer. Some good points were raised and our itinery added to, the whole meeting was recorded on audio which will be available also.

Below are the short video clips from our arrival, on the agenda for the rest of the evening now (its 7.10pm) is food, a local beer and an early night ready for busy day tomorrow.

Welcome

2009-03-16T03:00:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the International School of Health and Social Sciences Blog. On here you will be able to see regular updates including text, images and video clips from staff members partnership building and student recruitment sojourns overseas.

These updates will begin with the trip being undertaken by Mark Edwards (School International Development Coordinator) and Phil Jarman (Student Recruitment and Marketing Officer) to India on 20th April .

The visit will begin in the city of Mumbai where Phil and Mark will be meeting our India agents, attending a two day careers fair and meeting academics from the universities of Tata and Mumbai. In the second week the dynamic duo will fly south to Bangalore and Chennai where the main purpose will be partnership building, staff/student exchanges and student recruitment. As the itinerary evolves more details will be posted.

Mark

Phil