Dalai Lama asks Liverpools Hope University to train Tibetan teachers
February 18, 2010
Tibetan Review
February 17, 2010
Teaching course students at the Dalai Lama
Institute for Higher Education in Bangalore City,
India, could, in two years, earn their degrees
from the Hope University in Liverpool, UK, if a
proposed blueprint for the purpose gets approved
at the end of Feb10, reported Liverpool Daily Post online Feb 16.
The university has been helping orphans in
Tibetan Childrens Villages, in the Dharamsala,
north India, and the exiled Tibetan community at
large since the 80s, largely through its overseas
charity Global Hope. This included Hope staff and
students working with Tibetan teachers on areas
ranging from professional development to maths
provision, and catering for pupils with special
educational needs, the report said.
The institute currently has a Teacher Training
Centre meant for training primary school
teachers. The new proposal, made at the Dalai
Lamas request, is meant to train secondary school teachers.
It has not been finalized yet whether students
will attend a graduation ceremony at Hopes Childwall campus or in Bangalore.
The report said the deal will see Tibetans spend
two- thirds of their time in Liverpool. However,
to ensure they immerse themselves in their own
culture and practices, students will complete the
course, including assessed work placements, back in Bangalore.
Hopes Dean of Education Professor Bart
McGettrick, and other Hope officials have already
met the Dalai Lama previously. And Dr Wendy
Bignold, Hopes Vice Dean of Education, has
helped oversee the Tibetan project: a one-year
postgraduate secondary teacher education programme.
The Dalai Lama institute for Higher Education has
been initiated and is being overseen by the
Tibetan leaders sister Jetsun Pema. The
projects approval will enable the Institute to launch its school of education.