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Adrian College Albion College Alma College Andrews University

Aquinas College Calvin University Hillsdale College

Hope College Kalamazoo College Madonna University

Olivet College Siena Heights University Spring Arbor University University of Detroit Mercy
MCA member colleges campuses: grounded in liberal arts and sciences tradition

American — higher education qualifications. And increas- more international outlook and outreach. America’s 600 in-
ingly, households are readily selling land, homes, jewellery, land HEIs — many of them as good as the best — tend to be
stocks and shares and/or taking large loans to realise their relatively insular, less promoted and unknown quantities to
American dream. Indian school-leavers and graduate students. This aware-
Inevitably, not a few agents and consultants have mush- ness dawned upon EducationWorld CEO, Bhavin Shah,
roomed across the Indian landscape to promote American with dramatic impact during a recent visit to the US when
colleges and universities which are anxious to enroll un- he connected with the 14-member Michigan Colleges Alli-
dergrad and postgraduate students from India. Over the ance (MCA, estb.1949), an autonomous organisation which
past half century, Indian students at American universities “works to strengthen the shared capacity of 14 leading in-
have not only contributed cultural diversity to their cam- dependent, four-year colleges and universities grounded
puses, but many have gone on to distinguish themselves in in a liberal arts and sciences tradition, to broaden college
all walks of life back home in India as also in American aca- choice and foster career outcomes for MCA graduates in the
demia, business and industry. It’s worthy of note that the US and internationally”.
top-ranked Deans of Harvard Business School, the Booth “MCA member institutions were completely unfamiliar
School of Business and President-elect of Tufts University names to me despite my having served with Education-
among other blue-chip American higher education institu- World for almost two decades. These include Alma College,
tions (HEIs) are India-born. Moreover, Indian alumni of Albion College, Andrews University, Calvin University,
top-ranked Indian and American HEIs head some of Amer- Olivet College, Madonna University, Spring Arbor Univer-
ica’s most valued corporates including Google, Microsoft sity and Siena Heights University, among others. At the
and IBM. Therefore, most US universities are ready, will- invitation of MCA board member Sheila Bauer, I visited
ing and able to enroll Indian students, often with generous some of the alliance’s member colleges and was highly im-
scholarships. pressed by their scenic campuses equipped with contem-
However, the primary focus of agents and consultants is porary, digitally enabled infrastructure, highly-qualified
on America’s Ivy league and large state universities on the faculty, low faculty-student ratios and excellent placement
east and west coasts. This is because they tend to have a records. MCA member institutions are based in the state of

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