Background

Graduates from Nepal’s university system have for long been poorly equipped in intellectually tackling contemporary social issues and processes, both in the Nepali and general contexts, with objective, analytical and historically-informed perspectives. This shortcoming has not only deprived them of successfully competing, in more intellectually demanding job openings, with colleagues and peers trained elsewhere, but also retarded the development of a knowledge-oriented, broad-visioned Nepali society. Many social scientists are of the view that Nepal’s current social and political problems can be ultimately traced to the poor quality of the social sciences in the over-all educational system of the country.

Goal
This Immersion Course has as its goal a contribution towards helping make up for the lack of exposure to the social sciences in the Nepali educational system.

Objectives
The general objective of this course is to enable Nepali graduates to both intellectually comprehend contemporary social issues through a broad exposure to the humanities and the social sciences, and develop into socially-aware professionals in their respective fields. Specifically, the course aims at enabling students to:

Approach
The Immersion course involves an orientation to the social sciences (or sociology and anthropology) followed by rigorous instructions on specific areas chosen mainly from, but not restricted to, the following subjects: education, history, law, development, ethnicity, media, gender, technology, health, religion, philosophy, globalization, religion and politics. It pays special attention to the mutuality between the issues studied and society. Classes rely less on lectures and more on seminars and reading and writing assignments. Students will need to put in a couple of hours of study every day to participate actively and cogently in class. They will also be required to regularly prepare, either individually or in a group, for frequent classroom presentations.

NOTICE: The Immersion Course on Contemporary Social Issues has been discontinued from 2009. It has been succeeded by the Graduate Diploma in Social Sciences conducted by Nepa School of Social Sciences and Humanities <www.nepaschool.edu.np>.