There should be no shortage of coverage of a new international study trip to rural India by communication and photography students from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in November.

 

Journalism, photography and theatre media students from CSU are among those to soon depart on a three-week trip to the Indian village of Purushwadi in the southern state of Maharastra.

 

“This particular study tour is a new project of the Mumbai-based India Study Abroad Center,” said Mr Harry Dillon, a journalism lecturer from the School of Communication and Creative Industries at CSU in Bathurst. “The trip will focus on traditional village lifestyle, particularly village agriculture, infrastructure and sustainable development in rural India.

 

“Purushwadi is a small and basic settlement with unreliable power and hit-and-miss mobile phone services. The students will not only be getting their hands dirty doing fieldwork in a rural community but will have to mainly do without Facebook and television and all the rest.

 

“What makes our trip significant is the funding CSU Global received from the federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) to subsidise it.”

 

A total of 12 students from the University’s Faculty of Arts are participating in the Indian trip. They are due to leave Sydney for Mumbai on Saturday 12 November.  

 

While the group mainly involves journalism students from CSU in Bathurst, theatre media, photography, arts and criminal justice students are also participating in the trip.

 

The students will stay with villagers in Purushwadi, work with them on a winter crop or Rabi crop, visit the local markets, a local school and public health centre and take a pilgrimage to an ancient temple.