The India China Knowledge and Capacity Building Initiative (ICKCBI) was a unique partnership with three international universities, the University of Calcutta, in Kolkata, India; Yunnan University, in Kunming, China, and The New School in New York, with a shared goal of knowledge sharing and advancing scholarship through curriculum innovation. 

The Initiative involved faculty as well as graduate students separated into two cohorts. Faculty members designed and taught a graduate-level course entitled “India-China Interactions,” which emphasized critical perspectives on historical and contemporary India and China. Faculty from those India-China courses then selected 20 student Fellows for the second phase of the Initiative. 

The students participated in an eight-week field study program in Kunming and Kolkata where they practiced collaborative learning through small group research projects. Students worked together to develop their research topics and methods, and conduct field work. They examined issues ranging from women in higher education to economic stability to cultural identity and tourism. Finally, the students presented their research findings at a symposium in Delhi held to conclude the ICKCBI. 

This initiative was funded by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation