1. IISAC’s Course Offerings at PU

Course Selection and Flexibility

IISAC’s Semester in India program incorporates an academic flexibility model to maximize the availability of academic and research courses at Pondicherry University .The available courses are classified into three groups for mixing and matching interesting courses to create an individualized curriculum at PU.

(i) Core Courses

These courses provide an overview of Indian history, culture, literature, philosophical thought, languages, arts, religions, yoga, music, performing arts, tropical biology, etc. IISAC, with the help of the PU Foreign Student Advisor, organizes the resources and professors from various departments to give a balanced core curriculum. Core courses are developed to provide cultural and foreign language immersion opportunities for US students. There are ten such courses available and students are required to register for a minimum of two core SIP courses for an in depth knowledge of India.

• Hinduism and its Practices
• Practical Classical Yoga
• Idea of India in Literature
• Studies in Post- colonial Literature: Women’s Writing
• South Indian Classical Dance
• Experiencing the Arts & Architecture of India
• Christianity and India: 2000 Years of Faith
• Spoken Tamil
• Basic Hindi
• Invitation to Functional Sanskrit
• Invitation to Spoken French
• Indo- US Relations
• India’s Foreign Policy

Courses like Hinduism, Yoga, Idea of India in literature, Tamil, Christianity and South Indian classical dance have very high cultural content and are the sought after courses by US students over the years.

(ii) Elective Courses

Elective courses are the university’s departmental offerings. SIP students are allowed to take these department courses for their major and minor requirements. In Elective courses the SIP students compete with Indian students. The rigor of these courses is always at upper or advanced level, ranging from 300 to 500 levels, and requires extra efforts to get good grades. U.S. students generally register for two elective courses per semester.

(iii) Individualized Courses

Individualized courses are intended for students to design their own class or research to explore a particular topic in depth. A professor whose academic interests are aligned with the enrolled student’s will design the course, research or practical training for a maximum of 2-3 academic credits. Only one such course is allowed per semester. Typically SIP students register for a combination of Core and Elective courses to get the maximum academic exposure at PU.

2. Room and Board

Semester in India students stay at the newly constructed Foreign Students Hostel on campus. Accommodation includes double bedrooms with a private lavatory and shower, air conditioning, 24-hour WiFi internet connection, cooking facilities and recreation facilities with a large lounge. Three scrumptious South Indian meals are provided daily in the hostel.

3. Estimated Expenses

The Program Fee: $ 6900
IISAC is committed to offering an academically challenging and high quality program at an affordable price. We believe that world class education should be attainable to all undergraduate students. This is the only ‘Explore cum Semester’ program available in USA to discover and study in India at a cost lower than their own home university’s expenses.

Program Fee includes:

• Transportation from the Chennai Airport to Pondicherry University
• Orientation program upon arrival to India
• IISAC’s Grand India Tour- 23 day of study tour covering Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Mysore, Bangalore, Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal)
• Housing and meals at the university
• Tuition fees, registration fees and examination charges
• Tuition fees, registration fees and examination charges
• IISAC field trips and cultural immersion activities
• PU transcript sent to student’s home institution
• Orientation handbook
• $25 Application fee
• $350 Entry deposit
  
  
  

4. Financial Aid and Semester India Program

A student enrolled with IISAC’s Semester in India Program is eligible to use financial aid for the costs associated with their study in India. Being a formal program of a non-profit educational organization with 501 ( c ) (3) status, students’ home universities can execute a consortium of agreement with IISAC to use federal and state government grants, bank loans and scholarships from universities.