Bahá’í World/Volume 27/Núr University, Bolivia
 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
PROFILE: NUR
UNIVERSITY,
BOLIVLA
fir University, a private, non—profit university located in Santa
Cruz, Bolivia, not only gives its students the intellectual tools to reach the top of their fields, but it transforms them into agents of social Change by teaching them about the reciprocal relationship between the individual and the community. Nl'ir teaches that in order to better society, each person must be committed to a process of personal transformation. Through this process, individuals will have an impact on the social groups to which they belong. Conversely, participating in a group in which the majority of the members are committed to the twin processes of individual and collective transformation strengthens people’s resolve to better themselves.
Nfir University was founded to serve the rural needs of Bolivia. Established in Santa Cruz because the City has a population base large enough to support a private university, Nfir has always had the goal of expanding its programs into rural areas. Currently, in collaboration with public and private institutions, the university provides services that respond to the needs of rural communities. Initiatives include training in moral leadership, youth leadership,
249
[Page 250]
THE BAHA’I WORLD
public administration and just governance; literacy programs; the Latin American Master’s Program in Social Development; and the training of rural schoolteachers as community development agents.
In reflection papers written by students in Nfir’s program that trains rural schoolteachers to be community development agents, participants share their perceptions of the course’s positive impact on their personal transformation, family life, approach to leadership, and attitude to people from different cultures. One student writes:
I used to consider that women were specialists in raising children, taking care of the house, cooking, and caring for their husbands. They could also work professionally, but their first obligation was to fulfill these traditional responsibilities, which I considered as predetermined from time immemorial, as if established by the will of God. My relationship with my wife and children was based on extreme machismo. As husband and father I considered that I was always right and should always make the decisions in the family. . .Now I consider that women are equal in potential to men and that the relationship between
Students outside Ndr University in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
250
[Page 251]
NEE UNIVERSILY
the two is interdependent. I try to relate to my wife and children horizontally. I consider my wife as my companion and as a person that has her own needs and feelings that should also be considered. As a family, we make decisions using consultation and have elaborated a ‘Covenant Of Shared Responsibilities’ in which we have tried to equitably distribute family responsibilities. As a result of these changes in my attitudes, our home is much happier and united. I am currently trying to encourage my wife to develop her own potentialities, but sometimes it is hard because of the dependency and lack of self—esteem which my former attitudes have engendered in her.
Nfir was founded, in large part, to help create leaders who would be grounded in this process of self and social transformation. Having opened its doors to just ninety-seven students in 1985, it is now the second largest private university in Bolivia and the first to be granted a Presidential Decree authorizing it to function as a degree-granting institution.
In addition to providing community college and undergraduate university programs, Ni'ir has gained a reputation for taking bold educational development initiatives in response to regional and national needs. In 1986, the university opened Bolivia’s first graduate
Ndr ’s flexible curriculum allows students who cannot stuayfull-time to continue their studies at a manageable pace.
251
T113 Bahá’í WORLD
school. It has also led the way in alternative methodologies in higher education in Bolivia, including modular format master’s degrees, distance education, Virtual education, and seminars combining cooperative learning groups with practical field work.
Fourteen years after its founding, Nt’ir has more than 2,600 undergraduate and 500 graduate students working towards formal degrees or certification in fields such as accounting, education, social communications, agricultural economics, commercial engineering, computer science, administration, public relations, international relations, international commerce, business administration, public health administration, marketing, social development and sustainable development. Forty-four percent of Nfir’s students are women, a figure rare in Bolivia’s system of higher education.
Nfir’s philosophy advocates the integration of academic knowledge with both practical experience and the teaching of basic moral principles, While emphasizing community service, social justice, global development, and a respect for human diversity. This educational philosophy is based on universal principles found in the Bahá’í teachings, such as the individual’s duty to independently investigate truth, the need for the elimination of prejudice, the equality of women and men, the unity of humankind, and the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty.
This philosophy is evident in the curriculum structure of Nfir’s undergraduate program, Which integrates four complementary elements that it considers central to professional development: Degree Specific Studies, Which are courses that pertain specifically to the students’ fields of study; Development Studies, Which are courses taken by students in all faculties and provide a perspective
Since 1990, undergraduate students have been required 2' to complete 120 hours Ofcommunizy service prior to graduation. The UNIRSE program has the objective of fostering an attitude of service.
252
[Page 253]
‘, W44;77k4—-—AJM—u 4. A ; 77 g_|¥i ‘ j A._ L7,, ,7 g 4.- L
NU_R UNIVERSITY
on personal, community, and societal development; Transdisciplinary Studies, courses in which students work in interdisciplinary teams that focus on resolving complex social problems associated with development; and a community service component that requires students to complete a minimum of one hundred and twenty hours of community volunteer work as part of their degree requirements.
Nfir’s moral leadership program teaches participants that they have the obligation to search for, adopt, and live by moral principles, by which they should also shape their communities’ institutions. Leadership is shown to be a responsibility that is exercised by all members of society and requires the development and exercise of moral capabilities. This program has been made available to public health workers, management and field staff of non-governmental workers, and women’s organizations. It has expanded to reach many rural communities in Bolivia and more than a dozen Latin American countries, including Argentina, Paraguay, and Honduras.
In 1998 Nnr signed an agreement with the Mayor of Santa Cruz to train 4,800 public high school students in youth leadership over a three-and-a—half—year period, with the goal of diminishing growing trends of gang activity, prostitution, Violence, juvenile crime, and alcohol and drug consumption. Like the moral leadership program, this project is directed specifically towards youth in order to prepare them for active community service and the promotion of the good of humanity.
The goal of Nt'lr’s public administration and just governance training program is the strengthening of administrative capacities at different government levels, creating a shared Vision for the future development of the state and developing deeision-making capacities in the public sector. Most of the municipalities and subdivisions of the Santa Cruz state government have already taken part in this program.
In conjunction with institutions in eight other countries, NL’lr has developed and is carrying out the Latin American Master’s Program in Social Development. This program, Which has been in operation for the past five years, has involved three hundred students and faculty from eleven countries.
The training of school teachers as community development agents
253
ALLA.
THE 13%:in
began in 1993 With the concurrent goals of training school teachers to fulfill the role of community development agents and to improve the quality of teaching in the classrooms in rural communities. The program consists of twenty courses offered in a distance education format. To date, more than two thousand schoolteachers from Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina have participated in this program, which has received positive feedback from its participants. One student wrote,
The study of this course has helped me, above all, to understand the importance of guiding my life according to principles. I now try to serve those in need without expecting recognition, to forgive those who may have offended me without holding grudges and to share with others what I have learned, and thereby contribute to my own happiness and theirs.
254