Jakob Williams Ørberg talks about his fieldwork in India

Jakob Williams Ørberg is a PhD student under the EPOKE Programme and an Associated PhD Fellow to UNIKE. His PhD project examines engineering students in Delhi and their role in advancing India in the global knowledge economy.

For his PhD project Heroes of the Global Knowledge Economy – Hopes, Dreams and Expectations among Indian Engineering Students he did an eight-month fieldwork in Delhi in 2014. He did his fieldwork among engineering students in and around the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi to explore students’ imagination of their future life and profession. In this way, Jakob has examined how the students relate to expectations of family and society as well as to popular and political imaginaries about India in the global knowledge economy society. While on fieldwork, Jakob also did a survey of the supplementary education industry focused on coaching classes for aspiring engineering students.

Currently, Jakob Williams Ørberg is writing his thesis and developing publications on Indian supplementary education.