Program Summary


In the Fall of 2003, a group of educators from Southeast Michigan traveled to Nepal as Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Fellows. They participated in a series of seminars and field studies that introduced them to and immersed them in Nepali culture. They also were linked with Nepali teachers already engaged with Michigan teachers through a water quality monitoring exchange and were able to visit those teachers in their classrooms and observe students conducting water quality monitoring in the Seti River.

The proposal for the Fulbright-Hays Nepal Seminar Abroad Study Program grew out of water quality monitoring programs for middle schools sponsored by Michigan State University Extension. Extension Agent Patrick Livingston, a former Peace Corps/Nepal volunteer, partnered with Murari Suvedi, MSU Study Abroad Program Coordinator, to link Michigan and Nepali schools in a program to share water quality monitoring and cultural information. The success of that effort led to the Fulbright-Hays proposal to bring Michigan teachers to Nepal to interact with their teacher counterparts and to strengthen international studies for students in both countries.

Michigan teachers were recruited through Intermediate School Districts in Macomb, Wayne, Oakland and Ingham counties. In addition to their participation in cultural and environmental education activities during the three-week study tour, the Michigan teachers committed to contribute educational units that have become this Study Guide. The Study Guide offers teachers a valuable resource to bring Nepal to Michigan classrooms while meeting state standards and benchmarks.

Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad Objectives:

-To provide SE Michigan school-teachers opportunities to engage in the cultural, environmental, and educational systems of Nepal.

-To experientially connect SE Michigan school-teachers participating in the Riverside Education Program to their sister schools in Nepal.

-To develop a study guide and acquire multimedia educational material to integrate international studies into the school curriculum for Michigan teachers.

-To involve Michigan school-teachers and their students in an effort to enhance and support education in Nepal.

Additional Background