South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies
Encyclopedia
South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) is an institute for post-graduate theological studies and research in Bangalore
, India
. It has an evangelical ethos. Graham Houghton
, born in 1937 and raised in New Zealand, on a farm in the Manawatu near Palmerston North, was the founding principal.
SAIACS offers postgraduate degree programmes for an MA, MTh, Doctor of Ministry (DMin), Doctor of Missiology (DMiss) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).
The buildings are constructed with local materials. The architecture won acclaim in the journal Architecture and Design (Sept/Oct 1996).
The residency requirement for the MA and the MTh programs is two academic years. This period may be extended where equivalency course requirements are added to a student's MTh program. Doctoral programs involve longer periods.
Most of the students have served as ordained ministers, theological teachers or missionaries and Christian workers in churches in Asia. Most students are sent by their sponsoring church or mission and are already under appointment to continue their service upon completion of their studies at SAIACS.
Most of its publications are written or revised for India.
SAIACS Press, an imprint of SAIACS Publications, offers the Dome Series and the Spire Series. Dome Series publications are scholarly works. Spire Series books are more popular guides to Christian thought and living.
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It has an evangelical ethos. Graham Houghton
Graham Houghton
Graham Houghton, founding principal of the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies , in Bangalore, India, was born in 1938 and raised in New Zealand, on a dairy farm in the Manawatu near Palmerston North....
, born in 1937 and raised in New Zealand, on a farm in the Manawatu near Palmerston North, was the founding principal.
Location
SAIACS (13°03′46"N 77°39′15"E) is in Bangalore.The buildings are constructed with local materials. The architecture won acclaim in the journal Architecture and Design (Sept/Oct 1996).
Accreditation
In 1997 SAIACS was recognized by the University of Mysore as an accredited research institution to the university, enabling SAIACS to offer an accredited Indian Ph.D. programme. This is the first Protestant institution to be so recognized since William Carey's Serampore College in 1818. All of its courses are accredited by ATA (Asia Theological Association), the largest evangelical accrediting agency in Asia.Academic programs
SAIACS offers residential degree programs for Masters of Arts in Christianity (MA), Master of Theology (MTh), Doctor of Missiology (DMiss), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and a non-residential program in Doctor of Ministry (DMin).The residency requirement for the MA and the MTh programs is two academic years. This period may be extended where equivalency course requirements are added to a student's MTh program. Doctoral programs involve longer periods.
Modular system
Typically, courses are taught in modules of four weeks (Monday to Friday). For the MA degree, a typical module consists of 60 classroom hours and an exam at the end of the module. A typical module for the MTh program consists of 45 classroom lecture hours, usually held in the first three weeks, and 15 classroom hours of student presentations of either a paper or seminar.Students
While students are largely from India, SAIACS gets students from Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Burma, Canada, El Salvador, Holland, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and USA.Most of the students have served as ordained ministers, theological teachers or missionaries and Christian workers in churches in Asia. Most students are sent by their sponsoring church or mission and are already under appointment to continue their service upon completion of their studies at SAIACS.
SAIACS Press
SAIACS Press aims to publish research that challenge the church in South Asia.Most of its publications are written or revised for India.
SAIACS Press, an imprint of SAIACS Publications, offers the Dome Series and the Spire Series. Dome Series publications are scholarly works. Spire Series books are more popular guides to Christian thought and living.