Lessons from Myanmar (cont)

It's me again to continue the second part of the Myanmar meeting ka.

My assignment was to touch on leadership styles, internationalization, intercultural competence, and international relations offices/officers (Myanmar's policies to have IROs in all universities). It went fine though my talk on the evolution of IZN in Thailand could be a bit too complicated for our Myanmar friends not to repeat our mistakes (and honestly, I think some Thais may still find it challenging and confusing which could mean OHEC and each university have to communicate much more often ka....thinking of a summary I just listened yesterday..... more communication is never enough!)

I shared what I'd love to see most out of our IR officers which goes beyond the current one and let me copy it below na ka.

Basic Qualities

•       speak English/another language of focus well

•       have interpersonal skills

•       be systematic to manage protocol and complicated routine matters

support implementation of regional/international projects

Hope-for Qualities

•       Link key trends and issues with university priorities and suggest actions

•       Represent the university in national/regional/international forums as panelist, speaker, discussant, etc.

•       Lead implementation of regional/international projects with monitoring& evaluation skills

In addition, VP of Mae Fah Luang University (MFU) and I agreed for her team to have a role in supporting the academic sessions by summarizing ideas and sharing with the meeting. We had fun telling them we would score them throughout and this little exercise is what my main sharing will be about na ka.

My learning ka:

1. IZN and IROs are what we in this circle need to drive strongly to make it happen productively and for all to feel proud to belong as part of the university's key missions and visions.

2. MFU team did an excellent job once given an opportunity to show their capability. It was a real delight to see that not even one said, 'no' to the assigned tasks. Deep down in my heart, I wasn't that sure they would take it up at first and I couldn't be happier ka. 

3. At the reflections session on our way to the airport, it was one of the funniest and most fun times ka. They learned more about Myanmar, its food, culture, and people. They were deadly tired from doing many things assigned. They knew themselves better and what they needed to improve. 

For me, I told them I was really proud of them as they simply did it and we didn't even check the process. All were nicely completed that exceeded my expectations.

IR officers can potentially support IZN and other key issues of the universities much more than normally thought. They are the ones being exposed to future trends, to see rising opportunities, and to maintain networks.....if they're geared properly with systematic learning strategies and involvement ka!

Seamless coordination between IR office, academic, and research sections should be enhanced for respective universities to reach their missions and visions ka!

Cheers to the MFU team and thanks for having me as a part of this process na ka. 

Lessons from Myanmar (1)

I was in Myanmar for almost the whole week and came back Saturday. Again, I have so many lessons both about the overall workshops and the country ka.

This was the second Myanmar-Thailand Higher Education Institutions Leadership and Networking Program funded by OHEC for 7 university presidents of the two countries to meet, learn more leadership skills, and share common challenges and possible options. 

It was the fourth time I joined them and each time, I feel more and more attached to our Myanmar friends. Basically, on their end, most attended and if the rectors couldn't, they would send Pro-Rectors to participate and when I said, 'participate', they were very active with their curiosity to learn and share more. The Thai side was quite good too though Myanmar's senior leaders' commitment and attendance are much more significant ka.

On the whole, my learning is as follows ka:

1. Myanmar's current higher education reform has focused on systematic thinking and actions so they've thought through what they want to see .......no discrimination, no one left behind, and no dropout, on democratic discipline. One challenging dimension is for leading universities to be autonomous and it's being piloted! Very happy to see internationalization gracefully stay on the priority list ka! They have come up with their national strategic plan from 2016-2021 and will extend it to 2021-2026, highlighting on higher education much further, not as part of the whole education to include basic education.

To deploy the plans, they have several rectors' committees, one chaired by a medical doctor which is a surprise to me, considering the fact that the medical schools are under another ministry similar to ours in the past. 

I didn't get to ask about the role as there'll be one high level official from the Union Ministry (Central Government) to be on the committees too ka. 

2. Out of many choices of topics the top three the two sides wish to do and share further are research management, finance and fund raising, and coaching, risk management.

3. Both sides seem to need more leadership skills in several ways and they felt that two little exercises we conducted helped them learn about their own selves and how to manage others. I think after all, we only come down to several key issues like, 'learning about 'who am I?' to perform much better from improvement our own selves to interactions with others so leaders could 'put the right man in the right job'.

4. When asked how to manage better, communication seemed to be the key of all the groups. Yet, when it came to choices for improvement, this skill wasn't even on the list, nor was inspiration! Strange to me mak ka!

5. Myanmar's hospitality has always beyond description. One most touching aspect is their 'genuineness' in all they offered ka!

6. My first time to Myanmar was almost 20 years ago when OHEC was forming the ASEAN University Network (AUN). The practice of Buddhism including meditation has remained to be the core of their daily life. Super special jing jing ka!

Let me end here before it goes for too long na ka. 

Knowing another root of ours (cont)

Here are two more activities I love to share ka:

The first is about books ka. Fulbright Thailand has asked the grantees to bring one or several books they like best to give to the students at the บ้านสวนพัฒนา school and they all had to write something why they liked the book with their signatures for the students to invite them to read ka. 

Though it was a Saturday and we didn't get to have the students there with us in the meeting room, each grantee shared his/her thought why they chose them to Ajarn Tong-In and Ajarn Achara as well as the school teachers and staff. I was really touched of all the reasons and basically about what has inspired them from reading the books and how they wished the books could help the students to feel alike ka. What was also amazing was the wide range of book choices ka. It's a truly diverse group that can enable all to learn more about each other and other dimensions in studies and life ka. 

A little world of big data is digested delightfully ka!

The second is a food/dessert game they played. It's similar to 'buddy' game and what's different is that each grantee had to try to learn about the buddy quietly and thought of one dish either food or dessert to describe the person.

It was another fun and amazing time I so very much enjoyed ka. It turned out that many thought of desserts more than food. In any case, the explanations showed how much they have tried to learn about their friends. What stood out was that the creativity shone brightly while showing that Fulbright grantees have unique characters and caliber. The selections ranged from ฝอยทอง (Egg Threads) and Black forest cake to ยาแก้ไอตราเสือดาว (cough drops) and ข้าวแช่ (special Thai summer dish), etc.

The selections had sort of one common aspect which demonstrated positively how many 'layers' each one has as all have lots (ของ/กึ๋น) in them to learn from and share with ka. One girl said when she was at her office, she felt she was weird but she didn't feel so when she was with the group! I found it amusing ka....our grantees, junior or senior, sure have their uniqueness to leave others wonder kaaa! 

Who we see isn't who we think he/she is ka......lots more to impress me as always ka!

I'm very happy to see that Fulbright Thailand's efforts to help guide them will shape our grantees to be quality contributors to our future in many ways ka!

Cheers.

Knowing another root of ours

Happy Tuesday kaaaa! 

With the kind invitation from Fulbright Thailand, I went to Nakornpanom  the past weekend along with Thai grantees of all the programs who will be going to the US this year under the project called, "Knowing Our Own Roots" รู้รักรากเรา. This is for all to get ready to be 'cultural ambassadors' in the US. They will learn and appreciate more about our own country and own selves while mingling with grantees from other Fulbright programs to network, share diverse ideas, and bond ka.

This year, the theme was 'Following Your Belief'!

We went to learn from Blue Gold Coffee owner, Khun Kiatisak Kawongsa,  a private high school/vocational school บ้านสวนพัฒนา invested by Ajarn Tong-In and Ajarn Achara Wongsothorn, and a herbal doctor owned by Ajarn Tassanee Ratanarama.

The three were unique in their own ways and the paths of their beliefs are: 

1. No time to be sad as life must go on to tackle the challenges through persistence and grow further.....Khun Kiatisak  (25 years old) who was only at matayom 1 when his father was shot dead, leaving the family with over 50 million baht debt learned from his mother's inner strengths with persistence and helped her in every way. His love of learning must have been from her DNA as he tried to answer what could be unique and productive. He started learning about civet coffee from scratch. Bangkok university is to be admired for its entrepreneurship program, which was one crucial success factor of his business. 

Till today, he said he wanted to make sure that the business stays stable and competitive and his happiness is when he goes back to his home environment in Nakornpanom as life can be much less hectic and when he can enjoy playing with different types of animals in the zoo. 

2. We all are indebted to each other and life is to give back with appreciation and gratitude..... back to the time when Ajarn Tong-In was a poor little boy in Nakornpanom whose wishes to learn shot so highly that he could walk for 2 days for over 70 kilometers to his school in Sakonnakorn with food given to him along the way. His tough steps finally led him to be a Fulbright grantee to meet and marry Ajarn Achara. Both had different life paths and the thinking was so interesting. While Ajarn Tong-In's tough younger days made it easier for him to face challenges with intention to develop more through education, Ajarn Achara, a city girl, had to create her own motivation to face 'obstacles' to finish her studies. One little story that I really like was when she had to walk through piles of snow in Minnesota to go to study. She said she saw the footprints of her Thai friend and those in fact, motivated her to fight the cold to her classes.

Both went back to Ajarn Tong-In's hometown to build a school and because of their giving hearts, the high school/vocational school has generated knowledge and job opportunities to the disadvantaged. The best is to give them hope to follow their own passions through hands-on studies!

3. Local wisdom creates self sufficiency network and pride..... Ajarn Tassanee Ratanarama uses her science background to learn to be a local doctor using herbs to heal people while helping others to be recognized so they too can practice the treatment. 

It's so clear that being much less sabai with some opportunities can be so powerful to nurture kids to grow healthily and those who are more sabai must be geared to be more self-motivated!

Let me stop here and hope to write more about this trip soon ka.