I am posting again after a long hiatus. Meanwhile, a number of things have changed. I made a visit to India as I had not been home since 2003 and had to get my visa changed from a student visa to a work visa. Unfortunately, the Department of State decided that it needs ‘additional administrative processing’ and
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Farhat Habib's blog by Farhat Habib
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Back in the old world
- Date:
- Monday, 16 Feb ruary 2009 - 04:41 UTC
it has been pending for almost 5 months at this point.
Since this could go on forever (forever could be up to a couple of years) I started looking into other opportunities around the world and have ended up as a Fellow at the newly opened Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune The situation in research in India has changed a lot since I last left in 1999 and it has changed for the better. There is a lot more funding and facilities. One of the faculty members here when asked why did he come back to India when he could have stayed back in the US said “for the money”. This would simply not be possible 10 years back.
It is interesting observing the differences in culture after being in the US for over 9 years and I plan to blog more about them.
Last updated: Monday, 16 Feb 2009 - 04:41 UTC
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Comments
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The situation is similar in China actually, with the government aggressively trying to attract top ex-pat scientists and students back with funding and new facilities. And people have been returning there from Western nations.
I wonder if it’s not somewhat related to the current recession as well. Corie Lok mentioned in a post a while back that 22% cut in endowments (8 billion dollars) was made at Harvard last year.
I am sure it is related to the recession. Faculty here tell me they have seen a recent upsurge in interest from Indians in the US. A lot of faculty here are people who have been in the West for some time.