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He added that South Asian studies is making rapid advances in American universities, due to (1) the new pluralistic outlook in the country, (2) the large and growing influx of immigrants from the subcontinent who give faces to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Islam, (3) an increasing number of faculty of Indian origin, (4) the emergence of religion as a major political player on the world stage, and (5) the felt need to think globally. Though Jainism is the oldest of Indian traditions, and presents a rich field of scholarship, it has a comparatively miniscule status in North American academia. Approximately 1000 colleges offer courses in all disciplines (religion, philosophy, art, history, music, language) of South Asian religions. These courses are offered on the undergraduate and graduate levels, and are taught by highly trained professors, with chairs in prestigious centers of learning. By contrast, in the estimate of Jaina scholar, Professor John Cort, there are only some 17 academicians, in as many colleges that are engaged in Jaina studies; and there are no indications to suggest that the present status will change for the better.
He further emphasises that this situation is ironic, because while Jaina studies goes begging, the Jaina community in North America prospers like no other community in the fields of business, medicine, engineering, etc. To close this disparity, it is essential that the college-educated children of Jain families have access to the intellectual sources of their culture. It should also be a mark of pride for American Jains to have their culture studied and disseminated by the brightest in the land. More than pride, conditions in the world call for the type of culture that Jainism has to offer America and the world; a culture that has been shaped by thousands of years in the study and practice of humanitarian values that flow from the Jain ideal of ahimsa.
The International Summer School for Jaina Studies attempts to build on the achievements of several earlier attempts but with this two-fold distinction: it is fully integrated within the American
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