Week 1 · Reading a Himalayan landscape
Arrival and safety briefing. A landscape transect from valley to ridge, land-use mapping, homestay placement, and an introduction to the Bering Biodiversity Management Committee.
Study with us
The Field School
Four- and eight-week immersive field studies in remote villages of the Eastern Himalaya — living and working alongside traditional farming communities.
The programme
Learning from inside the landscape
Most field courses arrive at a destination, observe the landscape, complete a few activities and leave. Ours does something different: an immersive journey into the living landscapes and communities of the Eastern Himalaya.
Across the region’s mountain forests, farms, villages and traditional agroecosystems, students from schools, colleges and universities — and researchers undertaking Master’s or doctoral work — learn through direct experience.
Participants live with indigenous and local communities in remote mountain villages, sharing everyday rural life: farming, livestock rearing, forest and landscape walks, traditional food practices, cultural activities, storytelling, music and community knowledge systems.
This is not a field visit. It is a chance to step outside the classroom and become part of the landscape — to learn from people who have shaped and sustained these environments across generations, and to understand the ecological, social, cultural and economic relationships that define the Eastern Himalaya.
Through physical participation, intellectual exploration, social interaction and personal reflection, the Field School asks students and researchers to observe, question, engage, experience and learn.
Already running
Hosting international students since 2010
Since 2010 Dr. Sharma has hosted, advised and supervised international students on field-based workshops, independent study projects, internships and research across the Sikkim and wider Eastern Himalaya. The documented record from 2010 to 2026 runs to more than thirty student projects.
He has advised the School for International Training, World Learning, on its Jaipur and Kathmandu programmes throughout, and in 2021 taught online to students from six US universities through SIT Jaipur’s Sustainable Development and Social Change Program.
Students have come from
- Skidmore College
- Colorado College
- Carleton College
- Ithaca College
- Whitman College
- Loyola Marymount University
- Portland State University
- New Jersey City University
- University of Puget Sound
- Campbell University
- Furman University
- Pomona College
- San Diego State University
- Lehigh University
- University of Iowa
Projects have spanned traditional agriculture and agroecology, women’s seed-saving and traditional knowledge, biodiversity conservation, climate change and adaptation, drying springs and water security, wetlands, community-based ecotourism, mountain infrastructure, food systems, livelihoods, youth and education, natural-resource governance and community resilience.
Students learn through farm visits, transect walks, landscape observation, interviews, community interaction and the documentation of traditional practice — working directly with farmers, forests, springs and agricultural systems rather than reading about them. The Eastern Himalaya becomes a living field laboratory for interdisciplinary study, independent research and experiential learning.
Postgraduate supervision since 2008
Dr. Sharma has supervised M.Sc., M.Tech., internship and doctoral research from institutions in India and abroad. Between 2008 and 2012 he supervised eight M.Sc. students from the Institute of Ecology and Environment, New Delhi, and since then at Ambedkar University, New Delhi (2014), Sikkim University, the TERI School of Advanced Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and ISARA Lyon.
In 2024 he supervised a doctorate to award at the Forest Research Institute (Deemed University), Dehradun, on the assessment of anthropogenic disturbance on plant species diversity in the South Territorial Division of Sikkim.
The supervision is field-based, applied and tied to the communities it studies. Dissertations have examined the multi-stakeholder dimensions of declining high-value large cardamom; technologies and knowledge for reviving drying Himalayan springs; the cultural dimensions of spring conservation and the impacts of climate change on rural springs; human–wildlife conflict around Pangolakha and Maenam Wildlife Sanctuaries; and public perceptions of water scarcity and the Dhara Vikas Yojna in Sikkim.
The place
Where Bering is, and how you reach it
A working farming village of about 1,000 people at 1,246 metres, thirteen kilometres east of Pakyong market on the road towards Rongli. Subtropical mid-hill, not high alpine — so there is no altitude acclimatisation problem and the working season is long.
Getting here
| Leg | Detail |
|---|---|
| Fly to | Bagdogra (IXB), West Bengal — connected to Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati |
| Or rail to | New Jalpaiguri (NJP) |
| Then | Road transfer of roughly five to six hours, entering Sikkim at the Rangpo checkpost |
| Arrive | Bering, Pakyong district — 27°13′N 88°40′E, 1,246 m |
We meet every participant at Bagdogra and drive them in. The transfer is part of the course: it crosses the entire elevational gradient the programme studies, from the Terai floodplain to the mid-hills.
Two things to know
- Pakyong airport, twenty minutes away, is not operating. It has been closed to scheduled traffic since 2019 and repeated reopening announcements have not been delivered. Plan on Bagdogra. If Pakyong reopens, the transfer shortens to about forty minutes.
- The railway to Rangpo is not finished. The Sivok–Rangpo line is targeted for December 2027. Until then the nearest railhead is New Jalpaiguri.
We would rather tell you this now than have you discover it while booking flights.
Permits
The rule that shapes the course
Every foreign national needs a Restricted Area Permit simply to enter Sikkim. It is free, but it has a ceiling — and that ceiling is why these programmes are four and eight weeks long, and not twelve.
| Restricted Area Permit | Detail |
|---|---|
| Required for | All foreign nationals entering Sikkim |
| Cost | Free of charge |
| Initial validity | 30 days |
| Extension | One further 30 days, from the Foreigners Registration Office, Gangtok. Must be applied for at least two days before expiry |
| Maximum total stay | 60 days |
| Bering’s status | Inside the Pakyong–Rongli corridor, which is open to foreign nationals on a Restricted Area Permit |
| Solo travellers | Permitted |
What this means for you
- The four-week module sits inside a single 30-day permit. Nothing to renew, nothing to go wrong.
- The eight-week semester requires one in-country extension and lands inside the 60-day ceiling with days to spare. We handle it — the application, the timing, the trip to the Foreigners Registration Office. Students do not navigate this alone.
- Since 2026 these permits are issued online through the e-FRRO portal. We prepare the application with you before you fly.
Where we do not take you
Areas along the Indo-China frontier — Zuluk, Nathang, Kupup, Nathu La — are closed to foreign nationals outright, and Tsomgo Lake and North Sikkim need a separate Protected Area Permit, a group of at least two and a registered guide.
None of the taught programme goes near them. Tsomgo can be arranged as an optional weekend excursion for those who want it, at additional cost.
Permit rules are set by the Government of Sikkim and change. Everything here was checked in August 2026; we confirm current rules with every cohort.
Two programmes
| Field Module | Field Research Semester | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Four weeks (28 days) | Eight weeks (56 days) |
| Permit | Single 30-day RAP | 30-day RAP plus one extension, which we manage |
| Credit | 3–4 US semester credits via partner institution | 6–8 US semester credits |
| Shape | Taught field course: seminars, transects, household interviews, spring mapping, farm work, a group project. | Four taught weeks, then four weeks of independent student research producing a written paper. |
| Cohort | 8–14 students | 6–10 students |
| Best suited to | Faculty-led programmes, summer study abroad, consortium field courses | Semester providers, Masters field placements, research-visa students |
| Fee, international | USD 3,900 per student | USD 6,900 per student |
| Fee, Indian & SAARC nationals | ₹1,60,000 per student | On application |
School and college groups. The two programmes above are built for university cohorts. Groups from secondary schools and colleges are welcome and are arranged separately, with a shorter format and a different fee.
Fees
What the fee covers, and what it does not
Included
- All teaching, supervision and field instruction
- Full board and lodging in registered village homestays
- Return transfer from Bagdogra airport
- All in-programme transport and field logistics
- Field materials and equipment use
- Permit preparation, and the extension for the eight-week semester
- The community benefit-sharing contribution to the Bering BMC
Not included
- International airfare and the Indian visa
- Travel, health and medical evacuation insurance — mandatory, and evidence is required before arrival
- Personal expenses and optional excursions
- Any credit-transfer or transcript fee charged by your own institution
Founding-partner rate
The first two institutional cohorts are offered the four-week module at USD 3,200 per student. We would rather have two partners who have actually run the programme than a full price list and no one on the hill.
Fees are quoted per student and billed to the sending institution where there is one. A costed proposal for your specific group size and dates is available on request.
The four-week curriculum
Week 2 · Water: springs, aquifers, revival
Geo-lithological mapping, recharge-zone delineation, spring discharge measurement, water quality testing, and visits to revived springs and the NABARD Bagey–Khani-Khola sites.
Week 3 · Agroforestry and agrobiodiversity
Alnus–cardamom plot work, biomass and litter sampling, a seed bank visit, landrace documentation, farm labour alongside households, and organic certification systems.
Week 4 · Knowledge, governance, benefit sharing
Working with the People’s Biodiversity Register, interviews on traditional knowledge, access and benefit sharing, group presentations to the community, and a synthesis seminar.
Every module is taught from Dr. Sharma’s own published research on that subject — the agroforestry weeks from the Annals of Botany and Pedobiologia papers, the water weeks from the Nature-Based Solutions work and the live NABARD project. See the publication record →
Credibility
How we make this count academically
A field school is only worth what a registrar will accept. We are explicit about what we are and what we are not.
We are the in-country provider, not the accreditor
Credit is awarded by your institution or by a school of record, which reviews the syllabus, approves the courses, vets the instructor and issues the transcript. We supply the academic content, the field site and the supervision. We do not claim to award credit ourselves.
Designed against recognised standards
The programme is being built to align with the Forum on Education Abroad’s Standards of Good Practice and its guidelines for school-of-record relationships — the reference framework in education abroad.
Taught by the person who did the research
Not a visiting lecturer working from someone else’s data. Dr. Sharma has published 27 international peer-reviewed articles and seven books on precisely the systems students will be standing in.
A documented site, not an anecdote
A completed People’s Biodiversity Register, bird and butterfly survey data, and a constituted Biodiversity Management Committee. Students work with real datasets and add to them.
An experienced supervisor of foreign students
Dr. Sharma has advised approximately 38 international students through the School for International Training since 2010, supervised one doctorate to award and around fourteen Masters dissertations.
Honest about risk
Registered homestays, a written emergency plan, a named in-country responsible person, and a frank site risk assessment — including the landslide history of this terrain. Sent to your risk office before you commit, not after.
Our commitment
Homestay, food and community fees are paid directly into village households, and a benefit-sharing contribution goes to the Bering Biodiversity Management Committee.
Guiding and logistics are delivered by the Anant Bering Club. Research outputs are returned to the community in Nepali as well as English. Students are hosted in homestays registered with the Sikkim Tourism Department — which caps each household at five rooms, so a cohort is spread across several families by design, and the income with it.
For programme directors
We work in three ways: as a contracted field component inside your existing accredited programme; as a bespoke faculty-led course for your own student group; or as direct enrolment with credit through a partner institution.
Dr. Sharma also gives guest lectures and seminars for partner departments, online or in person, which is often how a field-school partnership begins.
What we will send you, before you commit to anything: a full syllabus with learning outcomes and contact hours, a site risk assessment, our emergency and evacuation plan, homestay registration details, and a costed proposal for your group size and dates.
School and college groups are hosted on separate terms from university cohorts, with a shorter format and a different fee.