The Future of BASAS

British Association for South Asian Studies : The Future of BASAS Questionnaire

BASAS is a thriving association with 14 active research groups, a member mailing list which peaked at 400 last year, and partnerships to administer grants and fellowship from the British Academy.

In recent years the BASAS budget has been drastically reduced and in order to best manage this new situation we would like to reach out to the BASAS community and have a discussion about the Future of BASAS.

As a BASAS member we would like to know what sort of future you envision for your association by taking part in this online questionnaire and joining our real life discussion at the Annual Conference. This short questionnaire should take no longer than five minutes to complete and is designed to gather member views in advance of the actual Future of BASAS Forum taking place at this year’s Annual Conference (12-14 April 2012 at SOAS.)

We will share with you the results of this questionnaire at that forum and hope to have a thoughtful productive discussion about the future of your association.

Thank you very much for your time and support. Please start with the questionnaire now by clicking on the Continue button below and ensure it is submitted by 5th April 2012.

1. What do you think is the main purpose of the association:

2. Should the association seek to reposition itself and consider doing something other than what it has traditionally done, in other words do you feel it is time for the association to change?

Yes

2.2 If you answered yes to Q 2, do you think the association is prepared to make this change?

Yes

2.3 If you have answered no to Q 2.2, what could the association do to become prepared?

3. What three things could the association not do without?

4. List any associations or societies you know which do great things for their members. Let us know what we could learn from them:

5. Are there any funding sources you would like the association to investigate? If so, please let us know what they are:

6. Consider each of the three scenarios below and let us know if you think one or more could be the future of BASAS:

i) BASAS to continue as it is in terms of outlook and objectives, but with a vastly reduced budget. The organisation would focus on the Annual Conference, and run a small profit to exist year to year. Graduate bursaries and language grants would cease to be readily available.

ii) BASAS to become a research institute which would make it applicable for funding from EU, the Government, and research councils. Research committees would be encouraged to form and bid for grants, with some overheads to go to BASAS.

iii) BASAS to increase its membership fees and elicit greater corporate sponsorship to maintain the organisation of the Annual Conference, as well as provide some graduate bursaries, language training grants, and workshop grants.

Other