The Rockefeller Center's public policy program will offer its own spin on a study abroad program this fall with a new Global Policy Leadership course. The class, taught by public policy professor Charlie Wheelan, will culminate in a two-week long trip to India to apply the term's coursework.
While this fall's course, Economic Reform in India, will focus on India specifically, Wheelan said potential future courses will explore other countries, provided the pilot goes well. At the conclusion of the trip, students will collectively complete a final paper discussing the country's economic issues and potential solutions to policy concerns.
The inaugural version of the course will focus on India because of the country's dynamic government-driven economic reforms, Rockefeller Center director Andrew Samwick said.
To Samwick, the country's reforms can be best understood by being physically present.
"We have this phrase: in and out of the classroom, on and off campus," he said. "There should always be an opportunity to translate what you've learned in the classroom to some application in the wider world."
Wheelan emphasized the importance of first-hand experience to truly internalize coursework. As a correspondent for The Economist, he said he learned "there was never any substitute to being someplace."
The course is similar to one Wheelan taught as a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Wheelan developed the Chicago program and took 12 students to India in 2005.
The abroad portion of the course motivated students to become invested in the class, he said. Because students are accepted to the course in the spring, they will have a term to procure immunizations and begin readings.
Wheelan's inspiration stemmed from his study abroad experience as a student at the College in the eighties. Wheelan, a member of the Class of 1988, said he traveled to Berlin before the Berlin Wall was torn down.
Economic Reform in India can be considered a combination of a Foreign Study Program and policy research, Wheelan said. The Rockefeller Center aims to enroll 12 students in the course, including those who have studied India before.
Wheelan cited mostly logistical reasons for the cap. A small class can comfortably fit in a conference room, travel in small vehicles and collaborate on a single report, he said.
The trip will be financed by the Rockefeller Center, though students will be expected to pay for their own plane tickets. While the itinerary is still tentative, Wheelan said students will visit Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and a rural village.
The program's diverse coursework especially the final collaborative paper encourages teamwork, which is often neglected in college courses, Samwick said.
Wheelan contacted policy leaders in India through the College's alumni network and connections from his previous journalism career.
The field study will be structured around meetings and discussions with policy leaders and experts, including Wall Street Journal senior writer Geeta Anand '89.
"I plan to talk to students when they are here about my observations and experiences," she said in an email. "I think experimental learning is a great way to stimulate people to think creatively."
Interacting with an expert in the field allows students to gain greater insight into issues, Wheelan said.
Adrian Ferrari '14, who will apply for the course, said he is confident Wheelan will create a new and exciting course due to his experience with Dartmouth and Chicago abroad programs.
"I think that many students have already invested a lot of time at Rocky," Ferrari said. "It's a great way to take what they've already learned and apply it."
The course will act as a continuation of public policy studies and has a prerequisite of either Public Policy 5 or Public Policy 40.
"Obviously anytime a student can get out of the classroom, anytime students can interact with real people who are trying to make real change, it is a big difference from being in a classroom where everything is highly theoretical," Ferrari said.
