News

In November 2006, we held a Benefactors meeting to look at that year's shortfall of £40,000.The appeal, launched by the Benefactors Council and co-ordinated by Dr Ramesh Shamdasani, ably assisted by Kamlesh Patel, Jamin Patel, Harish I. K. Patel, and Upendra Kalan raised £41,500.

The OCHS web team have launched a section of our website devoted to lecture downloads. Presently we can offer downloads in MP3 format but we are also working on facility to listen online and Podcasts.

These lectures and seminars are offered mainly as reference material for scholars and students interested in the topics covered. We offer the service in an effort to help develop the field of Hindu Studies and make good scholarship more accessible.

New scholarships are being established and awarded to deserving students at the OCHS, making life easier for those who are studying far from home.

Our ambition to encourage international growth in Hindu studies has borne new fruit in agreements with universities as far apart as Baroda and Florida.

The development of Hindu Studies is now a global concern, yielding affiliations that bring together scholars, students, fresh perspectives, and new insights, in a common appreciation of Hindu culture and its importance for the world.

The past few months at OCHS have been busy ones, full of talks and events that brought OCHS scholars together with a wider public, in a shared love of Indian culture.

The OCHS has officially unveiled its unique Online Library of over 100 MP3 recordings of lectures and seminars. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection now has free access to the best of Oxford's teaching about Hindu Culture.

Oxford University has recently given its official seal of approval to OCHS by awarding it with the newly created status of "Recognised Independent Centre of Oxford University" - a self governing academic institution that works in harmony with the University to enrich its field of study.

A speech by Dr Ravi Gupta, Board of Governor's Dinner, Oxford Town Hall, 23rd June 2006

Ladies and gentlemen, good evening! It is a great pleasure to be present in such a distinguished gathering of individuals. This is a homecoming of sorts for me—I studied at Oxford for six years and then went off into the real world, as they say. Now, after a year of full time teaching at the University of Florida, it is great to be back with friends at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

As the Centre renews its lease on the current buildings in Oxford until 2013, the OCHS Friend's Campaign is continuing to strengthen its foundations by developing new friends and benefactors. A programme of events organised by Friends of the OCHS is ongoing.

Thanks to kind donations from friends of OCHS, two new awards have been established to recognise OCHS scholars for their academic excellence and outstanding achievements.