UNB Education Department in association with the Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan....

The UNB Education Department has been involved with the Ministry of Education of Bhutan since 1985, taking over from a signifigant pre-existing project previously run by WUSC (World University Service of Canada). In Bhutan, the university has administers the Canadian Cooperation Office (CCO), home to major international partnerships between Bhutan and Canada. The university has already completed a "Phase I and Phase II of Education Strenghtening in Bhutan", which has provided scholarships and teacher-training to the teachers of Bhutan. According to the CCO website, "the projects aimed to strengthen the capacity of teacher training institutes in Bhutan, upgrade the academic background of secondary-school teachers and post-secondary lecturers, and enhance the capacity of the Curriculum and Professional Support Services and the Bhutan Board of Examinations.".

The exchange now currently features a five-year project entitled " The Strengthening Support to Education in Bhutan (SSEB) ". As states the previous website, the project will " will focus on strengthening education in Bhutan through sustainable development of human resources. The project will seek to enable Bhutan to improve gender- sensitive curriculum leadership and instructional delivery system in primary and secondary English language, primary mathematics and engineering. The project will also support the CCO to provide administrative and logistical support services".

On the Canada-side, the UNB/Bhutan project, operating out of the offices of the Faculty of the Education in Fredericton, has coordinated the awarding of scholarships of Bhutanese students to study and train as teachers in Canada (especially at UNB), as well as has provided Canadian advisors and consultants to the initative. Furthermore, Bhutanese scholars have been given short-term work attachments in Canada.

For more information:

Bhutan Project at UNB Faculty of Education

Canadian Cooperation Office: Bhutan

Left: Canada Day in Bhutan at the CCO

Right: Bhutan Scholars Yangdon, Sangay Biddha, Bijoy H. Subba and Kuenzang upon completing their MEd degrees in December, 2006.

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