About
Naropa University
Located in Boulder, Colorado, Naropa University is a private, nonprofit, liberal arts university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the arts, early childhood education, environmental studies, peace studies, psychology and religious studies.
Buddhist-inspired and nonsectarian, Naropa University is rooted in contemplative education, a teaching and learning approach that integrates Eastern wisdom studies and the arts with traditional Western scholarship. Naropa was the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement.
Royal University of Bhutan
The Royal University of Bhutan offers programs across its campuses in eight broad curriculum areas. These include:
- teacher education
- business and management
- engineering and physical sciences
- computing and information science
- biological sciences and agriculture
- health sciences
- humanities and social sciences
- Dzongkha language and literature.
Recently programs were added in arts and design, media and Mass communication, Bhutanese history and culture, Gross National Happiness, counseling and Buddhist studies in the colleges.
Most programs are full-time, although the two colleges of education, Sherubtse College, and the Institute of Language and Culture Studies offer part-time and distance education programs. Some programs offered at Sherubtse College provide their students with freedom to cross departmental boundaries with double degree programs.
The university offers diploma, degree, and honors degree courses of study.
Historical Connection
In 2009, NU began partnering with RUB in the development and launching of a Post Graduate Diploma in Counseling based on NU’s Psychology programs. This has had a great impact on the effectiveness of counseling in the schools. It has strengthened RUB’s capacity to impact the challenges facing Bhutanese youth. It has provided Bhutanese schools with 165 trained counselors.
The Master’s in Contemplative Psychotherapy at the Samste College of Education was launched January 2016. This is the first master’s degree in psychology offered at RUB. NU and RUB faculty have worked collaboratively in the program design and the implementation to ensure the cultural appropriateness of various methodologies and content.
NU faculty have been developing and delivering the foundation of this curriculum for 40 years. To ensure the quality and training for both RUB faculty and students, NU faculty will be visiting scholars at RUB. This will allow for building the capacity of RUB faculty to be thoroughly trained in contemplative pedagogy and ultimately to independently lead this innovative program.
Bhutan Study Abroad
The Bhutan Study Abroad program provides U.S. college students a unique opportunity to experience life deeply immersed in Bhutanese society. Students in this program have the opportunity to travel for three weeks and meet a cross-section of Bhutanese citizens, from farmers to government officials, before settling in to begin their semester of study at the Royal University of Bhutan.
In addition to the deeply immersive aspect of this program, the BSA program intertwines contemplative practice with intercultural learning, allowing students to fully integrate their cross-cultural experiences in Bhutan. Alumni of this program declare the experience to be life-changing, giving them a new lens through which to view their own culture and develop understanding of their role as global citizens.
The Master’s in Contemplative Psychotherapy at the Samste College of Education was launched January 2016. This is the first master’s degree in psychology offered at RUB. NU and RUB faculty have worked collaboratively in the program design and the implementation to ensure the cultural appropriateness of various methodologies and content.
NU faculty have been developing and delivering the foundation of this curriculum for 40 years. To ensure the quality and training for both RUB faculty and students, NU faculty will be visiting scholars at RUB. This will allow for building the capacity of RUB faculty to be thoroughly trained in contemplative pedagogy and ultimately to independently lead this innovative program.
Masters and PGD in CCP
The postgraduate guidance and counseling program will prepare competent and committed personnel who are capable of providing guidance and counseling services that are responsive to the changing needs of the system. Consistent with the needs of the times and the University’s objectives to provide relevant and quality education, the guidance and counseling program is designed keeping Bhutan’s context in mind while ensuring globally recognized standards. It will focus on guidance and counseling strategies that are preventive, developmental, as well as remedial in nature.
These strategies will be accomplished through classroom instruction (career counseling, multicultural counseling, guidance etc.), individual sessions with students in need, small group sessions to address specific issues (low self esteem, drug and alcohol issues, teenage pregnancy, divorce, low academic achievement, etc.) and community and parenting education. Counseling service will also provide consultancy to the staff/parents/administrators to make them more effective in working with students.
This program intends to educate counseling personnel who, through their own self exploration and growth through contemplative practices, can help their students/clients to achieve optimal personal growth, ability to self reflect, acquire positive social skills and values, realize full academic potentials, and make important life decisions. Contemplative practices and mindfulness awareness will be an integral part of the program to develop both insight and wisdom into the psychological processes of one self and others. In addition these practices cultivate the ability to be present with others facing life issues with openness and compassion. Two retreats will be held each winter residential session to develop the above skills.
