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ZHCES organises a seminar by Prof. John Portz

ZHCES organises a seminar by Prof. John Portz

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ZHCES organises a seminar by Prof. John Portz
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Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies
School of Social Sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

ZHCES Seminar Series

 

American Federalism and School Education Policy: Sharing Responsibility and Power to Meet Today’s Challenges

 

Prof. John Portz, Department of Political Science
Northeastern University
Boston, USA

 

Abstract: Education policy in America faces many challenges. From the outset, federalism provides a setting in which three levels of government – national, state, and local – play different roles in this system. Both cooperation and conflict are present in this intergovernmental design. Actors across this system turn their attention to a series of key challenges, including adequate and equitable funding, changing demographics, pressures for school choice, improving student performance, and ensuring accountability. In this presentation we look at these various issues to better understand how excellence and equity fare in this intergovernmental policy world.

 

Bio: John Portz is a professor in political science at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, USA. His research and teaching interests focus on American politics and include education policy, federalism, and institutional leadership. His recent publication is Educational Accountability and American Federalism: Moving Beyond a Test-Based Approach (Routledge, 2023). He is currently a Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Scholar affiliated with the Centre for Canadian, U.S. and Latin American Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. In addition to his academic work, in the past he served as an elected member of his home community’s school board and city council.

 

DATE: 10 April, 2024 (Wednesday)
TIME: 03.00 pm
Venue: # 207, SSS-II

 (All are Welcome)

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.