Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies  The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, founded in 1997, is a Recognised Independent Centre of the University of Oxford, England. It develops academic programmes of education, research and publishing in Hindu studies. It aims to encourage the Hindu community in the academic study of their own traditions and cultures. When founded, the OCHS was for a short time known as the Oxford Centre for Vaishnava and Hindu Studies (OCVHS). The Centre's lean towards Vaishnava traditions reflected the fact that its Founding Director, Shaunaka Rishi Das, is a Vaishnava priest. As the Centre grew, it became more inclusive and broader in scope regarding Hindu Studies, leading to its change of name. The Centre started out in a suburban house on Divinity Road with three students and a small library of donated books. It has since moved into a larger office in Magdalen Street, Oxford. Most students are members of Oxford colleges and are studying for degrees in the faculties of Theology and Religion, Oriental Studies, or History and Anthropology. Since 1997, the Centre has been inviting scholars to deliver lectures and tutorials at Oxford University. These include recipients of the Shivdasani and J.P. and Beena Khaitain Visiting Fellowships, with the Shivdasani Fellowship sponsoring Indian scholars and the J.P. and Beena Khaitan Fellowship helping scholars from other regions to come to Oxford. By these means the Centre encourages intellectual understanding between cultures of learning. The Centre offers regular interdisciplinary lectures and seminars at Oxford including the named Majewski, Wahlstrom and Ford lectures. One of the Centre's longest-standing exchange programs is with Aarhus University, active nearly every term since October 2014. Dr Bjarne Wernicke-Olesen, an OCHS Fellow, established the Memorandum of Understanding with the Aarhus University Department for the Study of Religion that enabled the exchange. Danish visiting students are hosted at the Centre for one or more terms to further their Sanskrit studies. The Centre has at times hosted large groups of visiting Aarhus students. In Spring 2016, on one such visit, a group of students came to the OCHS for a two-day seminar on the Haṭhayogapradīpikā. Since 2003, the OCHS Continuing Education Department (CED) has facilitated access to Hindu Studies for adults in the UK at various locations, and online for a more international audience. The Centre's online courses explore Hindu beliefs and practices along with notions of Hindu identity in the lives of modern practitioners.