Rape fear keeps US students out of India: Nancy Powell - The Times of India
Rape fear keeps US students out of India: Nancy Powell
RANCHI: The frequent incidence of rape in India has created an adverse image of India abroad. US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, on her maiden visit toJharkhand, on Tuesday highlighted this saying how this was possibly a factor in American students not coming to India.
She said: "The concern for personal security and perceived increased danger towomen as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students' decision regarding study in India." Powell said this in response to a question - "Why aren't American students coming to India for studies?" - asked in the course of a chat with students' at the Xavier Institute of Social Science (XISS) in Ranchi.
The students at XISS agreed in the presence of Powell that they too face sexual harassment on the streets. "Even we Indian girls face a lot of cat-calls and are subject to teasing outside the college campus almost everyday," said a student, who was part of the interaction session but did not want to be named.
When asked to elaborate, Powell said : "What I said was one of the factors for US students decision regarding study in India." Last year, a female student from Chicago University, who was on a study trip to India, in an account posted on CNN iReport said that India was full of adventures and beauty, but also relentless sexual harassment, groping and worse.
At the interaction with students at XISS, Powell focused on education and people-to-people connection. Following through on the most recent US-India Higher Education Dialogue in New Delhi in June this year, her remarks to the students emphasized: "There is no sector that better illustrates the mutual benefit of our relationship than education, a priority sector for both the US and India. Education has become one of the main pillars in our bilateral strategic partnership."
The US diplomat also made courtesy calls on governor Syed Ahmad and CMHemant Soren and also met with a varied group of civil society leaders who are alumni of US state department-funded leadership programmes.
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U.S. Says Rape Fears Put Students Off India - India Real Time - WSJ
U.S. Says Rape Fears Put Students Off India
The U.S. ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, has suggested that the numerous rape cases reported in the country this year are deterring U.S. students from choosing to study here.
Ms. Powell made the comments while speaking to Indian students about relations between the two countries on Tuesday in Jharkhand, a state in eastern India, according to a transcript of the session sent to The Wall Street Journal by the embassy.
Asked by one of the students why many Americans didn’t come to India to study, Ms. Powell said that “the concern for personal security and perceived increase danger to women as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students’ decision regarding study in India.”
Ms. Powell added: “What I said was one of the factors for U.S. students’ decision regarding study in India.”
While more than 100,000 Indian students are currently studying for higher education degrees in American institutions, the traffic the other way is much lighter, at under 5,000 students.
According to a report published this month by the Institute of International Education, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, the number of American students taking courses at Indian institutions increased by 6% to 4,593 in the academic year spanning 2011 and 2012, compared to 4,345 in the previous year.
In August, after a series of attacks on women travelers in India, CNN published the account of an American student who said her three months in India as part of her university course were marked by near-daily sexual harassment.
In a subsequent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the student, Michaela Cross, said that she still “loved India” but that “it’s a dangerous country” and “you have to accept this.”
Both countries have introduced a number of scholarships and programs to encourage American students to study in India in recent years, including the Connect India Program announced in June 2012 and designed to place 200 U.S. students in Indian educational institutions for a semester of study.
The issue of women’s safety has never been more prominent in the public discourse in India than in the months since the gang rape and murder of a student in New Delhi in December, which horrified the country and triggered an international outcry at the way India treats its women.
Since then, the Indian media has devoted increased coverage to new incidents of sexual violence, while at the same time women have reported attacks with greater frequency to the police than previously, at least in India’s capital.
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @WSJIndia.
Rape fear keeps US students out of India: Nancy Powell
RANCHI: The frequent incidence of rape in India has created an adverse image of India abroad. US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, on her maiden visit toJharkhand, on Tuesday highlighted this saying how this was possibly a factor in American students not coming to India.
She said: "The concern for personal security and perceived increased danger towomen as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students' decision regarding study in India." Powell said this in response to a question - "Why aren't American students coming to India for studies?" - asked in the course of a chat with students' at the Xavier Institute of Social Science (XISS) in Ranchi.
The students at XISS agreed in the presence of Powell that they too face sexual harassment on the streets. "Even we Indian girls face a lot of cat-calls and are subject to teasing outside the college campus almost everyday," said a student, who was part of the interaction session but did not want to be named.
When asked to elaborate, Powell said : "What I said was one of the factors for US students decision regarding study in India." Last year, a female student from Chicago University, who was on a study trip to India, in an account posted on CNN iReport said that India was full of adventures and beauty, but also relentless sexual harassment, groping and worse.
At the interaction with students at XISS, Powell focused on education and people-to-people connection. Following through on the most recent US-India Higher Education Dialogue in New Delhi in June this year, her remarks to the students emphasized: "There is no sector that better illustrates the mutual benefit of our relationship than education, a priority sector for both the US and India. Education has become one of the main pillars in our bilateral strategic partnership."
The US diplomat also made courtesy calls on governor Syed Ahmad and CMHemant Soren and also met with a varied group of civil society leaders who are alumni of US state department-funded leadership programmes.
=================================================
U.S. Says Rape Fears Put Students Off India - India Real Time - WSJ
U.S. Says Rape Fears Put Students Off India
The U.S. ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, has suggested that the numerous rape cases reported in the country this year are deterring U.S. students from choosing to study here.
Ms. Powell made the comments while speaking to Indian students about relations between the two countries on Tuesday in Jharkhand, a state in eastern India, according to a transcript of the session sent to The Wall Street Journal by the embassy.
Asked by one of the students why many Americans didn’t come to India to study, Ms. Powell said that “the concern for personal security and perceived increase danger to women as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students’ decision regarding study in India.”
Ms. Powell added: “What I said was one of the factors for U.S. students’ decision regarding study in India.”
While more than 100,000 Indian students are currently studying for higher education degrees in American institutions, the traffic the other way is much lighter, at under 5,000 students.
According to a report published this month by the Institute of International Education, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, the number of American students taking courses at Indian institutions increased by 6% to 4,593 in the academic year spanning 2011 and 2012, compared to 4,345 in the previous year.
In August, after a series of attacks on women travelers in India, CNN published the account of an American student who said her three months in India as part of her university course were marked by near-daily sexual harassment.
In a subsequent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the student, Michaela Cross, said that she still “loved India” but that “it’s a dangerous country” and “you have to accept this.”
Both countries have introduced a number of scholarships and programs to encourage American students to study in India in recent years, including the Connect India Program announced in June 2012 and designed to place 200 U.S. students in Indian educational institutions for a semester of study.
The issue of women’s safety has never been more prominent in the public discourse in India than in the months since the gang rape and murder of a student in New Delhi in December, which horrified the country and triggered an international outcry at the way India treats its women.
Since then, the Indian media has devoted increased coverage to new incidents of sexual violence, while at the same time women have reported attacks with greater frequency to the police than previously, at least in India’s capital.
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @WSJIndia.
![[Bregs]](/data/avatars/m/148/148509.jpg?1491816884){kind=avatar}
........it is good advice for Americans. 
