VCU news

By Amelia Heymann

Marci Fradkin, director of global partnerships for Virginia Commonwealth University, represented VCU during a trade mission last month to build partnerships with universities in India.

VCU was one of 25 U.S. colleges and universities represented on the trip, which was organized by the International Trade Administration in the United States Department of Commerce. Participants in the mission visited the cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi from Sept. 12-16.

“Our participation in the education trade mission represents VCU's prioritization of India, and the great potential for academic and research collaboration as well as student mobility,” said Jill E. Blondin, Ph.D., associate vice provost for global initiatives.

Fradkin said VCU is looking at a variety of different ways to partner with schools in India, from research and one-plus-one master's degrees to a reciprocal exchange of students for study abroad.

“I hope there will be opportunities for more Indian students as we grow our Indian student population, both in the grad and undergrad population,” she said. “And maybe also opportunities for our American students to study abroad in India.”

Fradkin said it is important for VCU to foster relationships with universities in India because of the widespread innovation occurring at those schools and “we’re a university of innovation.” In addition, as of fall 2022, Fradkin said India is the country sending the most students to the United States, surpassing China, which was the pre-COVID leader in student mobility to the U.S.

“It's just a very key market as we want to grow our international population,” Fradkin said. “And so we give our domestic students a chance to travel without even traveling, because they would have those international students in their classroom.”

Fradkin said she was impressed with the appreciation of Indian students and families for American education during the mission. In India, students follow narrower academic paths in college than in the U.S. – for instance, engineering students only study engineering. Students in the U.S. can study more widely, she said.

“I think in American education it's a little bit more collaborative and it's more of a dialogue between the faculty and the students,” Fradkin said. “And I think that's why Indian families and students are very interested in getting that American education.”

While Fradkin said she’s been to India 20 times, this was her second time going on behalf of VCU, the first time being a delegation she attended with VCU President Michael Rao over the summer. During this trip, she participated in two fairs, one in Mumbai that had more than 1,400 students and the other in Delhi that had around 1,100 students in attendance. Fairs have been virtual for the past two years, so this was the first time since the pandemic students were able to meet with American universities one on one.

“There's definitely a hunger there,” Fradkin said.

She said she also met with members of the U.S. Embassy while in India.

“The U.S. Embassy is working very hard in India to help students apply for their visa and to help students have that opportunity to study in the states,” Fradkin said.