This article examines the problems faced by students of international studies/politics in India. It argues that the discipline is finding it difficult to severe its apron strings with the state, and students are hamstrung by a lack of theoretical training, and academia, by and large, confl ates international studies with area studies. The good news is that slowly change is taking place with the emergence of new and critical approaches.
The study of international relations in India has come a long way since its introduction in 1955 at the Indian School of International Studies (ISIS). In the initial years ISIS was a part of Delhi University. It was merged with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 1970 as the School of International Studies (SIS). Since then, many other Indian universities have introduced the discipline.
Currently in India, international relations is taught at the postgraduate level in a number of universities: Jadavpur University, Mahatma Gandhi University, University of Hyderabad, Pondicherry University, Sikkim University, Central University of Gujarat, O P Jindal Global University, Manipal University, Symbiosis International University, University of Kerala and South Asian University.
