Skip to main content
+91 40 2313 4041
University of Hyderabad

Semester & Summer Programmes

Study at the University of Hyderabad for a semester, a summer or a short course

The Office (formerly the Study in India Programme, SIP) runs semester and summer programmes for overseas students, primarily undergraduates, whose credits are transferred back to their home institutions.

Semester Programmes

Students enrol in the regular semester curriculum of the University, or in shorter courses (3 months, 6 weeks or 4 weeks) customised to the needs of partner institutions. Although most participants come from the USA and the Nordic countries, there has also been a steady stream of students from France, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Korea and Japan.

The Fall semester runs from late July to the end of November, and the Spring semester from early January to early May. Students take 12 to 20 credits (3 to 5 courses) a semester and may join any regular class offered during the semester (if they have the prerequisites), studying alongside Indian students. The semester programme is the backbone of the internationalisation of the campus: the Office is a single window for both academic and administrative support, and at orientation the faculty coordinators give each student one-on-one course counselling.

Types of courses

  • Regular courses of the University, taken with Indian students; a broad range is offered by the Schools and Departments.
  • Specially designed courses for foreign students, offered when three or more students opt for them — Indian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Telugu, Sanskrit and others), Kuchipudi dance, Indian philosophy, gender, foreign policy, Indian cinema and more.
  • Independent / directed study, in which a faculty member supervises readings, field study or research on a topic — past examples include Pearl Markets in Hyderabad, Dalit Women and Water Rights, Organic Farming and Environment, and An Introduction to Hindustani Classical Music.
  • Practice and performance courses, such as Indian classical dance, theatre, sitar, painting and sculpture.
  • Non-credit courses such as yoga, tabla and kathak.

While special courses are offered to meet students’ interests, foreign students are integrated into common classrooms with Indian students wherever possible. Programmes can also be tailored within the semester, for example a 10-week programme for a US university on the quarter system.

Admission process

  1. Third- or fourth-year undergraduates with a GPA of at least 3.0 are eligible to apply.
  2. Recommendation letters from faculty or study-abroad administrators are required.
  3. The Admissions Committee scrutinises and approves the applications.
  4. Course counselling and orientation are offered on arrival.
  5. Students register for 12–16 credits.
  6. The Office liaises constantly with the participating departments and faculty.
  7. Grades and transcripts are sent to the home institution.

Summer Programmes

Summer programmes are more flexible and are designed with faculty and partner institutions. The six-week programme runs from the second week of June to the third week of July; students normally take 6 to 9 credits (2 to 3 courses) designed for them, such as Indian Politics, Gender and Society, and Basic Hindi. Contemporary India, an interdisciplinary four-week course, has been popular for more than ten years.

Courses can also be designed for an institution’s needs — for example ‘Contemporary India’ and ‘Gender and Society in Contemporary India’ (14 July – 10 August 2022) for students of the Nordic Centre in India and the University of Pittsburgh, and Media and Development for the University of San Francisco and Pace University, New York.

International Short-Term Courses

Who can join

The programmes are for overseas students who are proficient in English and meet the prerequisites of the courses they choose. The following can approach the Office for International Affairs:

  • Universities and their international studies divisions or study-abroad programmes
  • Heads of academic programmes, disciplines or departments
  • Institutions with a South Asia / area studies programme
  • Higher education institutes or councils of international education
  • NRI groups or associations
  • Trade or business delegations (for short-term courses)
  • Individual students who meet the requirements

Partnerships

The Office works closely with the international study offices of major American and European colleges and universities, and with education consortia in North America and Europe, when designing programmes and seeking enrolments. Major collaborators include the University of California (UCEAP), Duke University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, South Dakota State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In Europe, the main academic collaborator has been the Nordic Centre in India (NCI), a consortium of almost 20 Scandinavian universities.

Strong partnerships have also been built with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS), the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) and International Studies Abroad (ISA). Their support has been integral to the continuing success of the programmes.