The third IGCHE Summer School / India Study Abroad Programme took place from 6 to 19 September 2026, organised by the PSG Institute of Management in Coimbatore in cooperation with IGCHE. Fourteen students from nine universities of the German Consortium for International Cooperation (DHIK) joined us this year.

Coimbatore is one of South India's major textile and engineering clusters, with close industrial ties to Germany. The PSG institutions are among the largest and most established in the region and well beyond it. Few places offer a closer view of one of the world's fastest growing economies and of the role India is taking on the global stage.

In the classroom, PSG lecturers and invited guest speakers covered entrepreneurship, Indo-German business, emerging technologies and spirituality, the latter with a focus on India's diversity and the role spirituality plays in everyday life.

On the industry side, the group looked behind the scenes at the automotive supplier Pricol and at two textile factories in Tiruppur, where the students followed the process from cotton processing to the finished garment. Iyal Farms in Pollachi, an organic coconut farm, showed how the nuts are turned into products such as jaggery and coconut oil, and at Annapoorna, one of Tamil Nadu's best-known hotel and restaurant chains, the group toured both the kitchen and the hotel.

Outside the classroom and the factories, temples and historical sites left time for the architecture that shapes them, and the trips to Cochin and Ooty added the landscape: the Arabian Sea on one side of the Western Ghats, the tea plantations of the Nilgiris on the other.

Another highlight was the exchange between the German students and the Indian IGCHE students at PSG. They attended sessions together, spent their free time on campus and off it, and showed each other how studying and everyday life work in their respective countries. Along the way they made contacts that will outlast the programme.

For anyone thinking about joining next year: the programme is open to students of all DHIK universities, regardless of subject or semester. The requirements are a good command of English, motivation and an interest in India. Participants earn 3 ECTS credits that can be transferred to their home university. Applications open in spring 2027, and details on costs and organisation will follow shortly. More information is available on our website and at the international offices of the DHIK partner universities.

Our thanks go to PSG and to everyone on the ground who organised and hosted the programme. We are already looking forward to the next Summer School in 2027.