School of International and Area Studies (SIAS), Goa University
The School of International and Area Studies (SIAS), Goa University, earlier the Department of International Relations, and subsuming within it, the erstwhile UGC established Centre for Latin American Studies, though nascent in its current form, has been an integral part of the Goa University firmament, for close to three decades. The School endeavours to nurture exclusive proficiency, across the expansive realm of International and Area Studies, with a view since inception, to deepen and enhance pedagogy and research, coalesced around the highly specialised disciplines of International Relations, Defence and Security Studies, Strategic Maritime Affairs vis-a-vis. the Indo-Pacific, Area Studies, especially Latin America and the Caribbean, and the ilk.
With a current core strength of four faculty members, but whose prospective roster is primed to rise up to fifteen (15) full-time faculty in the foreseeable future, the School envisages to anchor and reinforce the gamut of its academic and intellectual activities, in the emergent thrust areas of a dedicated ‘China Studies’ vertical, at the heart of a substantive East Asian Studies progamme, besides, developing instruction and research strands, on the study of Israel and broader West Asia, European Affairs, South Asian studies, Diaspora and Soft Power studies, etc.
The School has developed a bouquet of Spanish language courses, which are meant to be integral to Area Studies at the SIAS, besides, sentient of the importance of strong linguistic conversance in the study of global affairs, has also seeded Japanese language component, with potential offerings in Korean, Mandarin, and possibly even Hebrew language, on the anvil.
Faculty at the School, have already been engaged in teaching and collaborative research, as also professionally associated, with peer academic institutions across South Asia, China, Europe, and Latin America, besides providing considered inputs to various agencies, such as the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), the LAC Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India, the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) New Delhi, the Naval War College (NWC), at INS Mandovi, Goa, for the past decade and more. Notwithstanding, the School has sewed-up a slew of MoUs, fostering academic collaboration, with peer institutions, in multiple countries, spanning Latin America and Europe, not to mention reputed entities within the country. The School is the benefactor of the exquisite expertise of its Visiting Faculty, drawn from JNU, and other nationally based varsities, in domains of China, Russia, Central Asia, West Asia, East Asia, and African affairs.
