USI conducted internship programme for students from Delhi University, Symbiosis University, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Christ and Jindal University from 03 June – 02 July 2019 at USI. A group of 15 students from undergraduate and postgraduate courses participated in the one month internship programme. The programme was designed to acquaint students with contemporary national / international strategic affairs, national security issues, foreign policy and research methodology.
The students attended a capsule comprising lectures on topics like India’s National Security, Overview of India’s Foreign Policy under NDA 2.0, South Asia, West Asia, India’s Relations with US and Russia, Cross-Border Terrorism, China’s Strategic Outlook and Sino-India Relations, and Indian Ocean Region delivered by eminent scholars. In this programme, they also participated in many Seminars, Round Table Discussions. They were encouraged to write for USI website/Blog. They also participated in a syndicate discussion on Jammu & Kashmir. The internship ended with the paper presented by students in front of a panel of experts. The panel gave valuable inputs, which enriched their papers.
Significantly, the best few papers would be a part of an upcoming book to be published. In 2017, USI in collaboration with Christ University had published a book titled “India and its Emerging Foreign Policy Challenges,” in which 12 articles were selected from the research papers submitted by the students.
The internship programme concluded on 02 July 2019, with the presentation of certificates and closing remarks by Lt Gen PK Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Retd), Director, USI.