“Have a positive impression of India, trip of a lifetime to be here!”: International students hail interaction with EAM

International students from leading American universities held an interaction with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar during the side-lines of the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas underway in Odisha. They lauded Jaishankar’s passion for India and developed a positive outlook towards the country.

The students who came from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), praised the interactions they had with Dr Jaishankar as they got a chance to discuss international politics and India’s role in the world.

Carissa Cruz, from the Philippines who had a Master’ degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said, “The interaction was actually great. I have learnt a lot. The minister welcomed us into his world and all of India. His hope for India in the world is truly life-changing”.

PhD student, Jesse Heinricher from MIT said, “We were very appreciative to be able to participate today. He (EAM) had a lot of things to say about the state of India and its relationship to the world, as well as regionally. He was all around very generous and had a very positive outlook on India’s position in the world”.

Speaking about his visit to India, he said, “I love it. It’s been incredible. I read about India so often on the news, and it’s developing. But I didn’t know so many specifics. There’s been such a wonderful cultural interaction here in India and we’ve learned so much and we’ve met with so many wonderful people and the hospitality we’ve experienced has been like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I have such a positive impression of India. It’s been the trip of a lifetime to be here and very positive outlook on India’s position in the world.”

Another student, Carla Paula Beltran Rojas who is pursuing MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management, on her interaction with Dr Jaishankar said, “It was really excellent. We feel very fortunate to have been able to have the time with him and in particular hear more about his views on the international and global relationships that India is developing as well as his excitement for what’s happening internally in India and how it’s continuing to grow as a global power”.

Speaking about her visit to India, she said, “I’ve always wanted to come visit. I think it’s one of our prominent global powers and I think there’s a lot of exciting innovation coming out of India. We were able to meet with some computer engineering students yesterday, saw excellent work. There’s clearly a lot of passion and promise coming out of the country. So definitely want to keep close ties with the country”.

Richard Kunzel, a research scientist at the Western University of Technology and the Harvard School of Public Health said that the students got to visit a lot of different places, universities and had a good interaction where they got a chance to talk about foreign affairs with Dr Jaishankar.

Another student, Kailash from Nepal, studying international development at Harvard and pursuing MBA at MIT said, “We learned a lot about India’s focus on neighbourhood first policies, strategic autonomy. He (EAM) seems to really feel strongly about the importance of continuing the relations with neighbouring nations and talked about supporting energy security or a disaster response, and I feel that’s something, where neighbouring nations like Nepal, can really take advantage of the fact that India is making investments into going forward and how can we really work together in strengthening the bilateral relationships.”

During the visit, he said that the students were able to talk to ministers, founders of companies, listen to their perspectives and understand where India’s trying to go, from a policy perspective, from a business perspective.