Education

  Star Education Fair

Sunday September 27, 2009

Women’s well of wisdom

By PRIYA KULAGASARAN

IT is all too easy to capture the fight for gender equality with images of mass bra-burning or female corporate executives breaking proverbial glass ceilings.

Although they paint a less glamorous picture, the new instigators of change may lie in a country more well-known for natural disasters than revolutionary universities.

Located in Chittagong, Bangladesh, the Asian University for Women (AUW) is a regional institution solely dedicated to educating and moulding young women leaders.

Admitting its first batch of students in 2008, the idea of AUW arose from a report on tertiary education in developing nations by the World Bank/UNESCO Task Force for Higher Education and Society, led by lawyer Kamal Ahmad.

AUW provost and acting vice-chancellor Dr Khoo Hoon Eng explains that for a country to experience significant development, mere focus on primary education for women is not enough.

“Many countries lose their population’s talent and creativity by half, simply because they’re not educating their women to the highest level possible.”

Ethical leaders

The cast of AUW is an impressive one; retired Harvard University dean Henry Rosovsky helps with academic planning, Microfinance pioneer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus serves as adviser, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have acted as financers.

“We have an amazing team backing us up, and it’s hard to not be committed to such a cause,” muses Dr Khoo.

The former vice-dean of the National University of Singapore Medical School is quite a force herself, a long time women’s rights advocate and a founding member of the All-Women’s Action Society Malaysia (AWAM).

“I identified with their mission; my scholarship to Smith College changed my life,” she says simply.

That mission’s scope resonates in Dr Khoo’s declaration: “We want to empower our students with the skills necessary to become thoughtful and ethical leaders.”

Thus, the curriculum is based on a liberal arts model to enable students to look at problems from different angles, and the syllabus places emphasis on improving the lives of others.

In the first year, students take on Social Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Communication Technology and Quantitative Reasoning.

They go on to specialise in any of the four majors offered; Politics, Philosophy and Economics; Literature and Women’s Studies; Biology and Environmental Sciences; and Information Technology.

All students also study media, as well as a curious course titled ‘Women Shaping Society’, which showcases examples of how various women have responded to global and local problems.

“We want to show our students that women don’t have to be victims and that they can help themselves,” says Dr Khoo.

Classroom to community

Being relatively new, AUW is literally designing its academic track year by year.

“Right now, it’s in such a way that students move seamlessly from a bachelors degree to a masters in five years,” says Dr Khoo.

In order to coach those from particularly disadvantadged backgrounds, the Access Academy was set in place.

The 12-month prepatory programme particularly focuses on English language skills and computer skills, to help ease their path into university life.

More notably, AUW students do not have to wait till graduation to be active in the community.

“Each student will undergo at least three internships in their course of study, based on service learning,” elaborates Dr Khoo.

“This means going out into communities, identitying their problems and analysing the information gathered to produce solutions.”

Students in a model United Nations meet. AUW’s curriculum challenges students to engage in current global issues.

The internships range from working with non-governmental organisations such as poverty-fighters BRAC to financial firm Goldman Sachs.

A fully residential university, AUW is also keen on promoting extra-curricular activities such as drama, dance and other creative arts.

“We have students from diverse backgrounds and of various nationalities, so promoting understanding is very important,” says Dr Khoo.

Inspiring change

There are currently around 304 students at AUW, all of whom are under scholarship.

“Our long term goal is to take in 500 students per year,” says Dr Khoo, adding that the university would be interested in admitting paying students as well.

The university has so far drawn students from countries like Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

This year its recruitement net is cast further, targeting young women from Bhutan, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Palestine, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

To maximise their reach, AUW’s recruitment team works closely with identified in-country individuals and organisations involved with girls’ education.

The selection criteria for entry however, is far from lenient.

“Aside from at least 12 years of schooling education, candidates also need a certain level of intellectual ability,” says Dr Khoo.

She is quick to add that the students’ backgrounds are also taken into consideration.

“We look at the general character of the person, whether she has shown innitiative by volunteering or being a leader.

“We don’t want somebody with straight As and nothing else.”

Naysayers may doubt the quality of teaching simply due to its location, but Dr Khoo is determined to see AUW as a world-class institution.

“The level of teaching here is of top standard, with small classes that give room for plenty of discussion and debate,” she says.

“We already thinking of seeking recognition from the same institutions that accredit Harvard and Yale.”

One wonders, why Bangladesh?

“We’ve received tremendous support from the Bangladeshi government, and we have full autonomy, which is quite difficult to get in this region,” says Dr Khoo.

“Plus, if we’re going to reach out to this part of the world, I think Bangladesh has more than its fair share of problems; poverty, discrimination, environmental issues and so on. But it’s still a democracy.

“Here, it is possible for a student to see all troubles outside and also see that it’s possible to overcome them.”

Related Story:
Boy, it’s a tough world for girls!

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