After five decades of service, the Nordic countries¡¯ research hub for 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ studies is shutting down ¨C despite a?greater need to?understand the region, scholars say.

This December, the Nordic Institute of 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn Studies (NIAS) will close its doors because the five countries that have supported it from its establishment in 1968 are discontinuing funding.

¡°After years of spirited resistance, it is now time to face facts¡­with a heavy heart, we announce the final closure [on] 31 December,¡± the organisation, currently headquartered at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Copenhagen in Denmark, .

Since its founding, NIAS has brought together ¡°fragmented¡± research from various disciplines and universities on a topic that has ¡°marginal status¡± in academia, according to the group.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Kenneth Bo Nielsen, an associate professor of anthropology focusing on contemporary India at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Oslo, said the loss of NIAS came as a ¡°big blow¡± to 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ studies.

¡°Increasingly, the push in academia is research output¡­but all the infrastructure that enables us to do good research, people are less interested in that,¡± he said.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

Besides giving universities access to ¡°incredibly expensive¡± journal subscriptions that many couldn¡¯t afford on their own, NIAS organised annual conferences linking scholars often isolated in their topics of study, said Dr Nielsen, who is now vice-chair of the Nordic NIAS Council, which supports 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ studies across 23 Nordic universities and research institutions.

He said he feared there would be few willing to take over this role. ¡°There¡¯s very little academic credit to be gained from organising a big international conference,¡± he added.

Equally important, NIAS has provided a generation of young researchers with mentorship and companionship in their fields, Dr Nielsen noted.

¡°My experience at the time was quite typical for a student interested in 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, that quite often you¡¯re the only one in your department,¡± he said, recalling his first trip to the institute as a master¡¯s student in 2002.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

¡°NIAS was like paradise. It was moving from a library with no books on India to one that had an endless amount of material.¡±

Scholars unaffiliated with the institute also expressed regret over its closure.

China specialist Denis Simon, who recently stepped down from a professorship at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, echoed the sentiment. He said the institute¡¯s popular 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ podcast ¨C which currently has about 700,000 downloads and a sizeable portion of listeners in North America ¨C ¡°will be missed¡±.

¡°It is strange to see an 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ-focused research centre being closed as we surely have moved into what appears to be the so-called 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn century,¡± said Professor Simon, adding that China¡¯s rise ¡°in and of itself is enough to command sustained scholarly attention¡±.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

¡°We need a global brain power trust in place to assess and analyse trends and developments in 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ and between 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ and the rest of the world,¡± he said.

William Hurst, the Chong Hua professor of Chinese development at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Cambridge, described the closure as ¡°horribly sad news¡±.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com