SIERRA VISTA — Cochise College last week hosted two visitors from India who are in the early stages of plans to build their country’s first community college in the town of Vapi, about two hours north of Mumbai.
Cochise College Science Department Chair Tasneem Ashraf shows a science lab classroom to Praful Dewani, center, and Ramesh Desai
Praful Dewani and Ramesh Desai visited the Sierra Vista and Douglas campuses, as well as the Benson Center, Feb. 13-16 and toured several departments to get ideas and information to include in their future college campus, pending government approval, across the Pacific. Dewani and Desai are both building contractors who are also working on designing the school’s academic curriculum.
“They spent four days with me to learn about how to set up a nursing program, and possibly an EMS education program, in India,” said Cochise College Nursing and Allied Health Department Director Jennifer Lakosil. “The bigger picture here is that they built this 220-bed hospital and they want nurses for it. There’s a shortage of nurses in India.”
The visit came together thanks to connections through the Rotary International organization. The Rotary Club of Vapi, of which Dewani and Desi are members, runs four trusts, or non-profit entities, including a full-service hospital. If the community college gets off the ground, it will be the club’s fifth trust.
The Rotary International president, Kalyan Banerjee, is also a member of the Rotary Club of Vapi. He traveled to the United States, including Cochise College, a little more than a year ago and suggested that Dewani and Desai pay a visit to Arizona to check out the community college system and find models for their own school. Before Cochise, the two men stopped at Tohono O’Odham Community College, and they finished their trip at Pima Community College in Tucson and Coconino Community College in Flagstaff.
Phil Silvers, a member of the Valle Verde Rotary Club in Green Valley and former director of Rotary International, helped coordinate the Indians’ visit to the schools. He said Dewani and Desai immediately noticed a big difference in the flexibility that is afforded to students in the United States, illustrated by how many middle-aged students were enrolled in each school, either starting collegiate life for the first time or looking for a career change.
“If you drop out (of school in India) for any more than a few months, you ‘missed the bus,’ as they say,” Silvers said. “And they’re very sensitive to this because Praful himself came from a family of modest means and he had to earn some money, so he dropped out for a few months and he almost missed that bus, so he knows.”
While off campus, Dewani and Desai toured hospitals in Sierra Vista and Bisbee, as well as the Sierra Vista Fire Department. Among the various buildings they had the chance to tour and the people they met at Cochise College, Dewani and Desai learned all about nursing and allied health facilities, student advising, Interactive Television connecting classrooms and many more instructional tools. During a tour of the Sierra Vista Campus Science Building, they took several photos of lab classroom setup and students while talking with Tasneem Ashraf, the chair of the science department.
Ashraf, who grew up in nearby Pakistan, talked extensively with Dewani and Desai about the differences in culture that Cochise students experience compared to those on the other side of the world. Ashraf reinforced the notion that, in India, there is high school and there is university, and nothing offered in between. And for those who aren’t ready to choose a career path at the expected time, chances are very slim that they’ll ever have the opportunity again.
Dewani, Desai and their Rotary Club hope that by starting something just like or similar to a community college in their country, they’ll be able to reach those young adults who may have fallen through the cracks. Lakosil said nurses in India must have bachelor’s degrees, and the ones who can pay for them are often getting certified so they can move to and work in the United States. Lakosil talked with Dewani and Desai about the hospital aiding students in getting their degrees, then graduates paying it back by working in the hospitals.
“We also talked about maybe doing an exchange, where some of our faculty could come over and help set up the program,” Lakosil said. “I think our demographics are similar. We face some of the challenges of a rural community they might face in rural India.”