Prof Dr Neeta Inamdar
Professor and Head ¨C ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Centre for European Studies, ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Academy of Higher Education
Chief Editor ¨C ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Universal Press

Prof Neeta Inamdar, who holds a Jean Monnet Chair has been a driving force of ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Centre for European Studies (MCES) through the decade. She has led it since its inception in 2009 and has the credit of building it to what is today - a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. Though interested in various aspects of European economy, society and culture, she is more drawn towards education in Europe ¨C both school and higher education as reflected in the projects led by her in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍøization and Bologna Process. With a hands-on experience in building international collaborations, she presently guides PhD students in the field of international education and acts as a consultant to a few other universities in their internationalization efforts. She has co-edited three books;

Reimagining Border in Cross-border Education (2022), Contours of India-EU Engagements: Multiplicity of Experiences?(2021) and?ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍøization of Higher Education: The Dynamics of Educational Ecology?(2019).

MCES, ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø, which was funded by the Delegation of EU to India in 2009, now stands as a major hub for the European Studies in India. MCES is the only Centre in India that offers a Master program in European Studies. The Centre effectively coordinates with other European study centres in India and has meaningful interaction with a number of European universities in terms of faculty and student mobility and collaborative research.

Over a decade, Prof Inamdar has developed MCES into a Centre of learning and resource. She has the incredible success of obtaining an astonishing amount of over €1.5 million grant from the European Union for diverse academic projects. The journey began with a funding of €299,000 from the Delegation of European Union to India in 2009 towards the establishment of the Centre for European Studies. It took its baby steps with a hand-holding by the then India-EU Study Centre¡¯s Program (IESCP). It then became a part of the consortium Interdisciplinary Bridges in Indo-European Studies (IBIES) which was selected in 2012 for an Erasmus Mundus program.

It¡¯s around the same time that Prof Inamdar was successful in getting a Jean Monnet Module on?Cultural Analysis and European Identity?in 2014. In a recent announcement, it emerged as a success story among many of those funded by the European Union in a global evaluation on how projects are implemented. In addition to this, Prof Inamdar has also successfully implemented a Jean Monnet Project in?Policy Debate on ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍøization of Higher Education and Bologna Process.

Prof Inamdar has efficaciously developed collaborations with several European universities in the last decade and this has resulted in the enhanced mobility of students and staff of ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) through Erasmus Plus Credit Mobility KA 107. She is also a part of the Consortium led by University of Bremen, Germany for Marie Curie COFUND project.

Prof Inamdar and the Centre reached a major milestone in 2016 with the grant of over half a million euros coming their way through Erasmus Plus Capacity Building project in?Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). The project was of immense importance as it had the potential to impact the pedagogical method practiced in schools across the nation. Award of Jean Monnet Chair (2017-2020) came in as a recognition of her efforts in building European Studies in ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø and leading activities related to European Studies in the south of India. Interestingly, Prof Inamdar has also ensured that MCES, along with these projects with grants steadily built its flagship program MA European Studies which is the only such master program in the country.

Prof Inamdar also nurtured the Dvaita Philosophy Resource Centre and the Centre for Foreign Languages which she started in 2009 and 2010 until they emerged as independent departments recently in 2019. Being open to ideas, she has now developed a strong team of young European Studies scholars who are presently building the multidisciplinary European Studies program and the Centre.

She has several young PhD students working with her on different dimensions of European society, culture, and education systems. Having the first-hand experience in internationalization of higher education, she has some of her PhD students working in this field of study today. Apart from the co-edited books, she has also published articles in different journals and magazines.

In addition to all these activities, Prof Inamdar is also credited with the building of ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Universal Press (MUP) a publishing house of ÑÇÖÞͨ_ÑÇÖÞͨ¹ÙÍø Academy of Higher Education under the mentorship of Dr H Vinod Bhat. She is presently the Chief Editor of MUP which has established itself as an important entity with more than 230 publications across disciplines.