Taru Jain

I am currently working as an Assistant Professor in the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.  My work involves teaching transport planning principles to undergraduate planning students. This includes working in planning studios as well as taking lectures.  I am also heavily involved with modernization of the program curriculum. It is a very important role considering the central role of planners in developing countries and the changing requirements of the professional milieu. I am currently researching about the challenges surrounding the mobility of women in Indian cities. Alongside, I am working on a couple of planning projects related to housing supply for the lower income group in selected Indian cities.

My Postgraduate degree in Transport Planning and Engineering made me feel very empowered to take on the professional challenges. I loved being part of an institution that worked on all aspects of transportation starting from transportation policy to travel psychology. It helped me in exploring the various sub-streams that transportation offers.  There was a wide range of modules to choose from and the program as a whole was very flexible. As an academic myself, I can appreciate now that the curriculum at ITS was very extensive and allowed me to understand core transportation principles along with solid professional skills which I could put to immediate use in my job. In addition to classroom teaching, travelling across Europe as part of the Transportation Study Tour was a great learning experience. I regularly draw examples from my time in Europe, when I teach my own students in India.

A special word should go in for the placement and career services at ITS. They were very helpful and all of us had multiple job offers in hand even before finishing the course. ITS is a highly regarded institution and having it on my CV gives me a lot of confidence.

After my undergraduate study in Planning from SPA, New Delhi, I was incredibly lucky to be shortlisted for the DFID Shared Commonwealth Scholarship for Postgraduate study at the Institute for Transport Studies, starting in 2006. In addition to the full scholarship, I wanted to study at Leeds as it’s probably one of the few institutes around the world with a full focus on transportation.

My advice to potential ITS students interested in this course is that it would be a good idea to get acquainted with the various programs that ITS offers to begin with. All programs begin with a similar core but the choice of optional modules during the second term is very critical. ITS has an excellent portfolio of transportation software and definitely something that the students should make use of.