Val Hedstrom taught the Nursing Administration course throughout the fall term and said, "It was fun to watch the students. They really took their roles seriously. The students were transformed into managers and wrestled with these situations using knowledge acquired over the last three months of classes and placements in hospitals. It was a great learning experience for all involved and a wonderful opportunity for the students and nurses to work together in a relaxed atmosphere."
The article focuses on the significant contribution of non-government universities (NGUs) to the higher education system of Bangladesh. The role of NGUs is completely multidimensional. With their commitment to ensure the relevance of higher education in Bangladesh, they have also created new educational programs, expanded the realm of opportunities for students and graduates, and managed to build political consensus and community engagement in higher education.
The ideas of reversing Bangladesh's "brain drain" through the development of knowledge and culture, creating a generation of employment, as well as relieving the government's financial burden of education are also explored in this article. The entire article is available online at http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2010/121110/anniv10/15.html.
On Thursday, November 18th, two of our volunteers, Deidre Evans and Sally Sando, organized an Eid party for the boys and girls at the Families for Children orphanage in Sector 6, Uttara, Dhaka. Deidre and Sally had been planning this party for weeks – arranging food, activities, and Eid gifts for all the children. This was one of the few parties the kids have ever had, and it was a huge success. Some of the boys and girls put together dance performances to entertain the crowd, which were lots of fun and must have taken lots of time and effort to organize. The room was filled with excitement and laughter, and the amount of positive energy was incredible! Overall, the children's endless smiles and 'thank you's really made our volunteers' hard work worth the while. Hopefully we will find ourselves another cause for celebration in the near future!
Due to the demand for high quality education, IUBAT is coping with increased enrolment by expanding teaching space. The new teaching wing, completed summer 2010 provides three floors of faculty offices and classrooms, all equipped with digital projectors. The large, bright classrooms are well-suited for lectures and in-class group work. Already work has begun for a fourth floor of academic space. To the right of the main campus building, new lab facilities are under construction for agriculture, computer science, engineering, hospitality and tourism management, as well as a 400 square foot lab for the College of Nursing. The new space, simulating a hospital patient room, will provide a more realistic setting for student practice.
The Daily Star, a major English-language newspaper in Bangladesh, reports: “Nurses should be entitled to a comparatively standard pay structure and status with respect to other professionals in society, if Bangladesh is to lift its nursing services to international standards, [according to local experts speaking at a conference]. They also stressed upholding nurses' image in the country and improving their services through creating avenues of training abroad and giving promotions as per their skills. Prof Dr A K Azan Khan said, like many other countries in the world, Bangladesh is facing the crisis of skilled nurses: ‘It is frustrating that the doctor-nurse ratio in our country is 5:1 while the standard ratio should be 1:5.’ Poor financial support, lack of appreciation, vague status of nurses and negative social attitude towards them - are some of the factors that discourage the youths from joining this profession, he explained.” Daily Star October 20, 2010.
