,”

• Marquette is helping develop a journalism program at St. Xaviers College in Ahmedabad, India.
• The College of Communication is looking into organizing a backpack journalism workshop at St. Xaviers for Marquette journalism students for next school year.
• The partnership of Marquette and St. Xaviers journalism programs is to lead to collaboration between other departments of both schools.
• St. Xaviers emphasizes social justice, specifically through working with its 30 percent low caste population.

Marquette and St. Xavier's College in Ahmedabad, India have a lot in common including a Jesuit tradition, an emphasis on social justice and a desire for academics that push borders. But, they are worlds apart.

As a result, the schools have a lot they can learn from each other.

An agreement signed last month by officials of both universities is opening doors to a possible backpack journalism workshop for journalism students at St. Xavier's, perhaps next school year, said William Thorn, associate professor and journalism chair in the college of communication.

The agreement also created possibilities for collaborations between the universities for other academic departments such as student and faculty exchanges and research partnerships, Thorn said.

Three faculty members traveled to St. Xavier's over winter break to see the university and sign the agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding.

Thorn, College of Communication Dean John Pauly and Director of the Office of International Education Terence Miller traveled to India to see the university and sign the agreement over winter break.

The agreement, called the Memorandum of Understanding, is a non-committal, formal agreement between the two Jesuit institutions that provides options for future collaborations, Thorn said.

The College of Communication is currently working with St. Xavier's to help develop its journalism program through enhancing the curriculum and finding funding for a computer lab.

Pauly said this collaboration has vast opportunities for students and faculty.

"I think the potential of it is wonderful because they're such lovely, resilient, smart, gentle people," Pauly said. "I was very impressed with the quality of the school and the teachers and students."

He said it's a way of giving the College of Communication global opportunities while supporting good things that are happening at other schools that share Marquette's traditions.

"The College of Communication has arguably as many resources as any college in the world," Pauly said. "As we look further down the road we look to find ways to position ourselves in international partnerships that enrich our students and put ourselves in the service of like-minded people."

Thorn said one shared tradition is the emphasis on social justice. St. Xavier's emphasizes empowering low castes by educating them so they aren't further marginalized by society.

About 30 percent of students at St. Xavier's are of low castes. This includes Dalits, or untouchables, handicapped students and tribals, who live on their own land and often are forest people, Thorn said.

A next step, said Thorn, is organizing the backpack journalism workshop at St. Xavier's where Marquette students would actually travel to India.

Thorn said the workshop would team up journalism students from both schools to work on telling stories in multimedia format. The workshop would probably take place right after Christmas.

"That way our students would get some cross-cultural international experience and their students could learn new technology," Thorn said.

The journalism students could then report on issues such as the work being done to help tribals retain their land, women's issues or the school's bio tissue program, Thorn said.

There is also a possibility for the collaborations of other departments at Marquette with others at St. Xavier's, Pauly said.

Thorn said the College of Education has already expressed interest.

St. Xavier's partnership with Marquette began last year when the Rev. Jadav Vinayak, a Jesuit at St. Xavier's and Marquette graduate program alumnus, was working on a proposal for a more developed journalism program at St. Xavier's. He worked with Thorn on developing a journalism curriculum for the school. Discussion emerged from there on Marquette helping the school obtain funding for a computer lab for the program.

"If you're going to teach journalism, these days you need to have the technological resources," Thorn said.

College of Communication sophomore Caroline Abraham said the backpack journalism workshop would be a great opportunity for journalism students.

"Journalism students would have the opportunity to be engaged in the broader world and work on social justice through the field," Abraham said.

She said the trip would provide global experience and enhance students' knowledge of their field of study.

“