UAP student participates in “The ACU Respect Residential School Program,” 2017

 

“ACU Respect Residential School”- an international leadership program organized by the Association of Commonwealth Universities in association with Common Purpose and Heriot-Watt University Malaysia with the vision - “We develop leaders who can cross boundaries” from 18-21 December 2017 at Heriot-Watt University, Malaysia

Samiha Mehnaz, a student of the Department of Pharmacy of University of Asia Pacific, was one of the 30 delegates from twenty of the Commonwealth Countries. The ACU’s Respect campaign has brought together the student leaders from diverse communities to develop respect and understanding among the students of different countries and to enhance their leadership quality in their home institutions and beyond. The students got the opportunity to explore the culture, language, lifestyle, socio-economic condition, and political aspects of different communities of different nationalities.

A combination of lectures, keynote sessions, café conversations, and immersion visits facilitated the students to understand the challenge, “what can be done to create a tolerant and inclusive educational environment in their institutions and beyond?” The participants got valuable advices from activists from Mythos Labs, Global Peace Foundation, and Justice for Sisters, Sisters in Islam and Commonwealth Secretariat.

At the end of the program, the students have cultivated innovative ideas to make their home institutions more inclusive education friendly. Samiha Mehnaz along with her team presented the idea of introducing tri-sector leadership to support and promote respect and understanding among the students of diverse communities in their respective home institutions and beyond with the view of making a peaceful environment in the educational institutions and other respective institutions all over the world.