During the spring 2023 semester, students taking part in the program are required to take ILRIC 4260 (graded, 2 credits). The course will meet in Ives Hall. Once admitted into the program, the student will be added to the course (students may not self-enroll). In addition to the Wed course, a 1-credit Kannada Language course (KANAD 1100) will be offered on Mon at around 3pm (details will be provided). Kannada is the official language of Karnataka State, where SVYM is located.

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Following the initial 2-week Learning component, students will be placed in either 4-week (ILR students) or 6-week (GH students) service projects at an SVYM site. Projects will be selected during spring semester before going to India, and an attempt will be made to match the students' top choices and interests with the needs and desires of SVYM

The program is split into 2 parts.

Part 1. During the first two weeks in India, students will take courses at the Vivekananda Institute of Indian Studies (VIIS), an arm of SVYM, in Mysore, Karnataka state, India (http://www.viis.in/). The courses are:

• Indian Civilization and Culture 
• Gender in India
• Indian Labor Relations & Economics or Global Health in the Indian Context (depending on program track)
• Kannada (official language of Karnataka)
• Elective course in yoga

Part 2. After 2 weeks of courses, students will take part in service projects at one of SVYM’s field sites in Mysore District. The service project sites will be determined during the spring semester, prior to the students’ departure. 

Sample of past projects offered by SVYM (note that the projects change year-to-year, depending on the needs of the communities):

ILR-focused projects:  organizational management, policy, governance, child labor, human resources management, corporate social responsibility, education policy, teaching English, palliative care, HIV study, finance and accounting, gender studies, disabilities studies, adaptive leadership project, and marketing and fundraising.

Global Health-focused projects: video production on self-administration of insulin and foot care, HIV-AIDs community project, palliative care, research and creation of standard procedures for Aruvedic medicine,  business plan for medicine production, educational material for yoga, assessment of patient flow,  nutrition study, and designing labels for traditional medicines.  In addition to projects, on occasion, GH students may have the opportunity to shadow doctors in the field or the hospital setting.