Hello!
I got back from
a 4-day trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh yesterday evening. My main
mission was to participate in a small working group of the Association of
Universities in Asia and the Pacific (AUAP), drafting 'AUAP Standards for
Internationalization (IZN)', sponsored by Daffodil International
University, the largest university in the country with 25,000 students.
As it was my
second trip there, I was eager to see how different I felt as well ka.
My sharing is
as follows:
On the
mission itself, the
6-member working group comprises two from the Philippines (one is the Secretary
General of AUAP), one each from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the US
(living in Indonesia).
The topics (called,
‘parameters’) agreed are:
· International/intercultural philosophy
· Regional and global partnerships
· University demographic
· Physical and digital infrastructure
· Community engagement
· Top management on strategic planning and
resource allocation
Each parameter
starts with some description followed by items to consider. The group
will move on to discuss rubrics for each of the sub-items (non-compliance,
partial compliance, compliance, exceeds compliance) and there could be
another level which is yet to be discussed. With its Board’s approval, the
final product will be pilot-tested with a few volunteer members before
putting it into use. The process will take some time as there will be many more
discussions along with the development of handbooks and training.
The discussions
were challenging to come up with terms most Asian universities would find it
easy to understand. It was amusing to see us raise and change terms that our
American member never heard of in this context, and sometimes, among ASEAN
members, we too had different terms!
Personally, I
still wish we could have added some crucial aspects like health and personal
safety as well as knowledge management. Will push further in future
meetings if I continue to participate ka.
On Daffodil
International University, being
host to our group gave it a good opportunity for us to meet with the national
University Grant Commission and other private universities so they learned
of what AUAP has been up to. There was a special interview for us to be
on its campus TV, run by its students. Time was set for us to see its
huge out of town campus when students had its annual innovation carnival
ka. The Chairman/owner of the university has over 40 businesses in his Group
and yet, he managed to be with us several times and give a speech to the
students at the Carnival.
On Dhaka, I noticed many more high rise buildings
and ongoing construction. I think with quite a few industries in the city and
cities nearby, dust is everywhere and this could be harmful to people’s health
a lot.
Rickshaws
(tricycles) and motored tricycles (similar to our tuk tuk) are everywhere. We learned
that the rent for a rickshaw is about $1.5/day while the earning could be
around $10-15 a day though it’s a real tedious job ka.
Like other
Asian countries, this is a gift giving culture so we were spoiled with
so many gifts….one even personalized!
The people
there are super friendly and hospitable. Ladies are BEAUTIFUL, I
mean really good looking ka. One thing that struck my heart hard was
that whenever kids and girls/ladies caught your eyes, they smiled widely to
you. I couldn’t help but think of our own ‘land of smiles’, which
may have to be transferred to Bangladeshis laew ka! We’ve lost lots of
our friendly smiles to tougher lives, more individualism, and more
competitions mai ka?
This is a bit
too long so let me stop here even though there’re others to share too lae ka!
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