Dr. Duffie VanBalkom from the Faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Canada will deliver a talk on Higher Education Issues on 21 May 2008 at 2:30 pm in the Conference Room of the Office of the Vice Chancellor, Royal University of Bhutan.

Officials from various relevant organizations will be attending the talk.

One of the programmes for the workshop includes documentation and data collection on a festival in Bumthang. A follow up workshop will be organized in Thailand in 2009 to study Buddhist practice in Thailand. The expected outcome of the collaboration is a joint publication and long-term cooperation.
The workshop will be attended by the Thai team and representatives from ILCS, Department of Culture and the Office of the Vice Chancellor.

14th Committee of Directors Meeting

The Committee comprising of Directors of all member colleges of the Royal University of Bhutan and senior officials from the Office of the Vice Chancellor held its twelfth meeting at Jigme Namgyel Polytechnic, Dewathang on 14 may 2008.

Some of the key issues discussed were:
• University wide Convocation
• Policies, Plan and Procedures for HRD
• Recommendation from University Administration and Management Training
• Performance Evaluation (RCSC’s)

13th Academic Board Meeting

The Academic Board which comprises of senior officials from the Office of the Vice Chancellor and representatives from all member colleges of the Royal University of Bhutan held its thirteenth meeting on 13 May 2008 at Jigme Namgyel Polytechnic, Dewathang.

The Board which is responsible for the overall academic function of the University discussed issues related to academic concerns and some of the key issues were:
• Academic character of Royal University of Bhutan
• Students’ time for independent learning
• Report on the online admission for 2008 tertiary education programmes
• Part time diploma programme in Jigme Namgyel Polytechnic

A team of six consultants from Khon Kaen University (Thailand) and two lecturers from the College of Natural Resources conducted a job market survey to identify potential areas of diversification and development of the curriculum of College of Natural Resources. Their findings will assist the College to explore possibilities of diversifying its programmes to employment and business oriented programmes. These programmes aim to train students for entrepreneurship and self employment. The survey was initiated by the College to develop programmes that will create more employment opportunity for its graduates.

The team visited relevant stakeholders representing different government organizations and NGOs in some districts.

The report from the survey was presented at the Conference Room of the Office of the Vice Chancellor, Royal University of Bhutan on 14th May 2008. Officials from Royal Civil Service Commission, Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Bhutan Agro-Industry Ltd, Association of Bhutan Tour Operators, Agriculture Machinery Center, Druk Seed Corporation and National Post Harvest Center of Paro were present at the presentation.

Australian Leadership Award (ALA) Fellowship Program

Six RUB members (3 from Paro College of Education, 2 from Samtse College of Education and 1 from the Office of the Vice Chancellor) won the ALA Fellowship and were at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, Australia from 5 – 30 April 2008. They were joined by 4 Fellows from Papua New Guinea, 6 Fellows from Vietnam and 2 Fellows from East Timor.
They attended two courses on Leadership and Action Research. At the end of the program each Fellow also developed an action research project for implementation in his/her work-place. The research reports will require to be submitted to UNE by mid-January 2009.
The Fellows also participated in the 28th Annual International Society for Teacher Education Seminar at UNE from 20 – 25 April 2008. This seminar was attended by 130 participants (related to teacher education) from 26 countries and six continents.