CAMPUS DIVERSITY INITIATIVE
An Experiment for Multi-cultural Learning in Indian Higher Education

The multi-hued diversity and vibrancy of Indian society owes much to the contributions of different peoples and cultures through the centuries. However, some contributions are boldly etched, while others remain blurred, thus excluding large sections of the population.

Post-independence India has made several attempts at inclusion of the hitherto excluded, with limited success. Discrimination on grounds of caste, religion, language and region, though prohibited by the Constitution, is in practice, still vehemently justified. Caste and religious conflict are mere symptoms of wider social concerns and it is these wider concerns that education must address. Campuses, all over the country, are ill prepared to cope with such a role.

Moreover, increased availability and access to higher education has brought many first generation learner to colleges. However, the education that is imparted has not met their expectations for employment or a better standard of living, while existing knowledge or skill gaps, social and economic disparities persisted. The frustration and low self-esteem that resulted led to the alienation of these youth and aided the rapid politicisation of college campuses.

Ideally, higher education should be capable of recognising and addressing the roots of the problem and direct its efforts at building the confidence and raising the self-esteem of students from scheduled castes, tribes and women students. Re-examining curricula to make it diversity positive so that students learn and value the contribution of all groups, is an important need. Building linkages between courses taught and the employment opportunities available in adjoining areas could stop migration to big cities, and provide a positive thrust to the process of making higher education more meaningful and responsive to student needs. Campus Diversity Initiative is, therefore, visualised to address all these issues and create a healthy academic climate among the higher educational institutions, which have witnessed a sharp division in recent times.

The Campus Diversity Initiative which began as a three year project, funded by Ford Foundation, was initially introduced in twenty-three colleges in India. Educational Resources Centre had the administrative, coordinating, monitoring and technical support role in this Initiative. The Initiative focused on undergraduate students as institutions of higher education presented a new milieu, comprising different socioeconomic groups, and a system of education that is more detached from their personal needs for academic enrichment. The consequent insecurity and fears are not often expressed, or addressed by their teachers. The diversity among the selected colleges is in itself a challenge. The participating colleges are scattered throughout the country in different geographic regions, and represent diverse communities. The participating colleges, therefore, developed their diversity projects according to their individual needs and the composition of their student community. The Initiative is a modest beginning in a country, which has one of the largest systems of higher education in the world.

The initial emphasis was on awareness generation and celebration of diversity. However, colleges also simultaneously addressed problems arising out of diversity. They organised student and faculty enrichment programmes to facilitate understanding of oneself and others. Although programmes were based on individual campuses, from the very beginning, there were attempts to share. Regional clusters of colleges held joint events and shared activities in the first phase.

Heartened by the general support received from the colleges to CDI, Ford Foundation embarked on Phase 11 by introducing Partnership Grants. Proposals were received from all the grantee colleges for collaborative projects with four or five colleges within the reach of their campus, who would launch their own diversity programmes. These partners are diverse, with differing student characteristics and academic programmes. Women's colleges, rural colleges, technical institutes and minority. institutions have been drawn into association with the CDI programme for a three-year period of shared activity. The nine grants that were awarded are modest, and some cost sharing has been built into the projects. In its two phases, the CDI has included seven universities and more than sixty colleges in its fold.

CDI has enabled colleges to run faculty-training programmes and workshops on diversity, to take a fresh look at pedagogy and emphasise on the inclusion of diversity as an important theme in cross-disciplinary approach. It is seen as a means to counter the divisive forces, prejudices and intolerance emanating from caste and religious differences, social inequities and gender concerns. It is a movement to change attitudes, to encourage and promote inclusion of all groups on a campus - faculty, students and non-teaching staff. And, the journey continues ...