In 2006, Jawaharlal Nehru University set up North East India Studies Programme (SCSNEI) to promote teaching and research on North East India and its neighbouring areas. The Programme was established with an inter-disciplinary framework involving diverse disciplines being pursued in different schools of the University.
The main thrust of SCSNEI is to undertake critical research and build up a body of scholarly works on the region, including its wider historical and contemporary global connections. It aims not only to introduce the scholars and students to the diverse and complex issues of the region, but also to the challenges in conducting studies on the social, historical, cultural, political, economic and environmental issues of the region. Some of the issues include policies, laws, resource use, migration, demography, labour, ecology and disaster, development, gender, religion, trans-nationality, role of global capital and institutions, connectivity, urbanisation and infrastructure, human security, etc.
SCSNEI promotes active interaction between JNU and various Universities and institutions at the regional, national and global levels. This is being done through the exchange of scholars, workshops, seminars, symposia, etc., on themes pertinent to the region. SCSNEI also engages in comparative research which covers themes connecting local and global issues and their wider implications. SCSNEI aims to develop into a centre of excellence which would serve as a resource hub for scholars from diverse parts of the country and abroad and be a platform that brings academics, administrators, policy makers, civil society actors and activists interested in the region and its neighbouring areas to dialogue on its various challenges and prospects.
In 2015, the University also took the important initiative of locating the University Chair for Tribal Studies in SCSNEI. The focus area of the Chair includes issues such as development, tradition and modernisation, indigenous knowledge and institutional practices, constitutional rights and mechanism, and comparative research of tribal societies in India and abroad.
SCSNEI offers various programmes and courses. In August 2013, SCSNEI started direct Ph.D. level programme. In 2014, it started offering BA Optional Courses. MA Optional Courses were offered since 2015. The M.Phil/Ph.D programme was started in 2016. The objective of these courses and programmes is not only to acquaint students and research scholars with the society, polity, economy, history, environment and ecology, and culture of North East India, but also to re-think existing ideas of the region. They also aim at developing holistic comprehension of the changing phases of North East India since the pre-colonial to the contemporary times. In addition to the above courses and programmes, Post Doctoral Fellows are also enrolled with SCSNEI.