Report by Ms. Urishna Shakya, UMCDSRC Scholar

Report by: Urishna Shakya
Roll no: 1427
2^nd Year, 3rd Semester

 
Picture I: taken at the farewell ceremony of NJP (Nepal-Japan Project) spring project at Hotel Holy Himalaya, Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal on 10^th March, 2014

Having chosen Development Studies for my undergraduate was solely my decision based upon the dream to better the lives of the people in terms of having a happy living and getting the opportunity to study your favourite subject under full scholarship is an utter fortune. Where National College provides us a very friendly fun-filled environment and what is learning without fun. Both should go parallel.  I realize the benefit of having a social science related course of study that you can activate yourself, meet with people from various castes, occupations, ethnic culture, geographical regions, etc and everyone has got their unique stories to share and there is always so much we can learn. In our college, we can find students from various educational and social backgrounds, the amalgamated environment of diversified minds has helped me have a diversified mindset in perceiving things as well. For e.g. while discussing rape cases in gender class, we are not only looking at things from the perspective of the victims, we are trying to figure out the probable reasons of the perpetrators’ mindset and thought processes as well.

For me specifically, who has made a 360degrees shift in the faculty from Science to Arts, it was not an easily accepted thing by the family. With SAF Nepal as our guide on every step of our college life throughout till date, I have been able to benefit of this inter-connection via various opportunities, such as the recent event I got to participate in as an international delegate, the SAYC 2013(South Asian Youth Conference). This was a 5day international conference which included 54delegates from all 8South Asian countries held in Krishi Bikas Bank Talim Kendra, Bhaktapur. It was a first ever international symposium that i got to attend. And since the thematic issues were very relevant to our course of study, it was easier for me to relate and hence, explore and learn even more.

We have a lot of researches to be conducted in various forms of assignments, be it a simple survey in our local areas, field trips to various parts of the country, or a full-fledged research for the term-papers, it has helped build up a better analytical brain, which knows not only to believe upon the information that is being passed onto you, but also be sceptical and pose questions critically.

Our college itself is working as a networking bridge between different South-Asian countries.  Students from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are here studying the same subjects with us, interact with them, about their life, education, issues from their perspective since they belong to a different nationality. I get to know about his/her family, education system, festivals, society and community. So, there is cultural exchange, not only in a personal level but in a community level as well because the bond spreads from a person to a community and even the country when we look at the larger picture through his/her friends, family, relatives, society, etc.

 National College being a place for research lovers, we also have this well-reputed NJP (Nepal Japan Project), which provides a big platform for National College and Japanese students to learn from each other through the conducted research as well as from the newly built fellowship. I myself had been selected for the spring project of NJP (Nepal- Japan Project) 2014 in which 14Japanese and 1Korean student from two different universities had joined us in the research in various areas of Lalitpur, Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. I had a very enjoyable experience with the Japanese team-mates and partners, who had this common attribute of kindness and punctuality. Thus, there were things to learn from them as well as to give them back as well in the form of teaching them about our warm hospitality, unity and cooperation with contemporaries. This way, our studies at National College has been helping us enhance our knowledge on an international level and promoting regional cooperation as well.

Report Completed on: 14^th May, 2014

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