Welcome Speech by Mr. Elaisa Vahnie at First Graduation Ceremony of National University of Union of Myanmar

Welcoming Speech Delivered by Mr. Elaisa Vahnie
at the 1st Commencement Ceremony of the National University of the Union of Myanmar – Global Campus
August 27, 2022

Good morning and good evening —to all graduates, students, parents, families, faculty members, administrators, advisors, supporters and all partners and all friends—my warmest greetings to you all. It is my privilege and honor to welcome everyone to the first Commencement Ceremony of the National University of the Union of Myanmar – Global Campus (NUUM).

Today we have come together here to celebrate, recognize, and honor your accomplishments as students of NUUM and the success of the university community as a whole. As we have come to witness such success, allow me to briefly reflect on our journey together thus far—we all remember how everything changed when the COVID-19 global pandemic struck in early 2020. Then the already very difficult situation was compounded by the coup in February 2021.

As part of our comprehensive response to these multiple complex crises, the establishment of the National University of the Union of Myanmar – Global Campus (NUUM) was one initiative undertaken after a careful and inclusive consultation and deliberation with stakeholders, with its main objectives being providing continuing learning opportunities for Myanmar students whose education had been disrupted by delivering high quality, equitable, and accessible academic programs and educational services.

But the NUUM became a reality because of all of you—teaching fellows, leadership fellows, and all the students that enthusiastically participated in the classroom and administration, in the best possible learning environment. In doing so, we capitalized on the success and experience gained through the Center for Research, Policy and Innovation (CRPI) as well as over a decade of delivering highly successful local educational programs, AND various training and scholarship programs under the Myanmar Initiatives implemented by the Burmese American Community Institute, which started as soon as the democratically elected government began undertaking the reform efforts inside the country.

The conceptualization and the design of all these programs and initiatives are based on a clear conviction that to achieve the vision of a well-educated, peaceful, democratic, and prosperous Myanmar society in which all members have the opportunity to engage in and contribute to civic and economic well-being, we need to invest in our people and education: first, we must take the steps to ensuring a large middle class population – a 21st century workforce is produced as quickly as possible through undergraduate education opportunities for young people in the country by expansion of the universities and colleges, making higher education accessible by all, and delivering quality programs. Second, we will also need to take bold actions towards producing graduate level, well-trained, sophisticated individuals who will be serving as architects of future institutions in the country, either in government institutions, such as legal, economic, education, and in private and non-profit sectors. Finally, building and transforming institutions, including institutions of higher education through institutional design and capacity building should follow. We must take action on these three fronts, both at a policy and programming level comprehensively and innovatively, if we are to become a competitive nation regionally and globally.

In line with this understanding, let me also briefly touch on the strategic priorities at the NUUM as we move forward:

1. We will be further developing programs and increasing Learning Opportunities by 1) Strengthening and expanding academic programs: this will allow us to ensure we continue to make progress with one of the main goals of the NUUM we stated earlier; we will continue to develop the academic programs by expanding courses, and certificate programs that will eventually lead to achieving associate, bachelor, masters, and doctoral degree programs. 2) Being responsive to the needs and the changing world, we will ensure to further develop program components in academic English courses, Standardized test prep and mentorship -all designed to prepare students for college and future endless career successes through College Prep and Mentorship Programing. 3) Additionally we will begin designing Short Courses and Training Programs, which include:
   i. Short Courses for College Students that will provide the opportunity for students to continue to engage in the learning and academic world while preparing themselves for the 21st century workforce, and
   ii. Executive Education Program: designed for college graduates and mid-career professionals to further strengthen their leadership position and grow.
   
   
2. Parellely, we will also strengthen Fellowship Programs further creating Teaching, Leadership and Professional Development Opportunities: On this front, we have stayed true and will continue to do so in our effort to provide professional development and teaching opportunities for Myanmar higher education teachers and emerging leaders in the form of training and fellowship opportunities. We have doubled the number of teaching fellows and leadership fellows from the first semester to the second semester. We are committed to not only grow quantitatively but we will also be enhancing the type of training and professional development opportunities the University has to offer.
   
   
3. As many of you already know, Research and Innovations opportunities through the Center for Research, Policy and Innovation (CRPI) has now been offered this Fall in the form of Capstone or Seminar Courses.  This reflects our commitment to promote and to serve as a hub for academic research and scholarship, intellectual inquiry, debate and dialog and create avenues for such activities, through which ideas may be generated to help shape the future of Myanmar. 
   
   
4. Similarly, we will be strengthening our engagement with reform efforts collaboratively working with stakeholders and actors in the constitutional and institutional development of Myanmar—through Policy Advice and Consultancy Services —maximizing the intellectual products we have produced through CRPI and the expertise we have gathered through our collaborative approaches. This also reflects one of the objectives of the University, which is to lay the foundation and help build structures and systems for future democratic institutions in Myanmar, especially through the design and implementation of educational institutions and, in particular, higher education institutions.
   

All of them directly and indirectly support democracy, peace, and development in Myanmar both in the immediate terms and long-term.

Fully recognizing the need for fostering collaborative partnerships, the NUUM will continue to draw on local experiences and international expertise to support the effective further development of its academic programs and administration.

All these accomplishments, outcomes and impacts that we are seeing today would not happen without your participation and contributions. So to all of you —all teaching fellows and instructors who have been passionately delivering high quality education at the best level possible similar to typical American University courses and class environments, to all Administrative staff, members of the President’s Office, to all members of all Administrative Offices who work day and night to ensure we are providing the best support possible to faculty members as well as students while at the same time continuing to make progress with the institutional building within NUUM, to all members of Academic Standards Committee, and advisors thank you, thank you, thank you. I want you to know that all of your time, energy, and contributions are well recognized and highly appreciated.

And to you graduates—as you began your journey with the NUUM a year ago, you faced a number of challenges from emotional well being to simply not having a proper internet connection. But you have overcome those challenges with determination and firmly standing on the principles of unity, diversity, truth, respect and dignity even in this revolutionary time. And you also know that you are already leading us all to a better place as an agent of change, consistently and fully recognizing those challenges but standing with facts and truths. You, as a leader, understand the issues we are facing not only locally but also globally; you clearly see the opportunity for change by knowing your responsibility to think and to think responsibly, but also by taking urgent and appropriate action upon what you know is right, because the right things are for the greater good of our shared society, consistently with a clear vision you have for yourself, for your community, your country and for the world. And I know in that process, you have brought and you will continue to bring diverse groups of people together regardless of your ethnicities, nationalities or religious beliefs—whether you belong to Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Shan, Rakhiane or Bamar, or any other groups, or whether you are big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor— treating everyone the same and equal with recognition, appreciation and respect. I also know that with your knowledge and experience you will pull and transform all types of resources whether it be intellectual resources, monetary resources, your network or social and intellectual capitals to direct and redirect them—recycling them to achieve the common goals set forth towards our shared vision, the people’s vision regardless of your personal, professional, party-line or ethno-linguistic-religious differences.

So you are our future: you are our future because you will change the world by becoming a blessing not only for your family, your community, for others and yourselves, but for everyone.

In fact, you are also our hope: you are our hope, the best hope that your parents have, the best hope that your community has, the best hope that your motherland has. And the fact of the matter is you offer the best hope to help sustain and uphold the democratic values, freedom, peace and prosperity for your country.

As long as you are determined to get an education, prepared to lead, and look to the future, you will continue to bring countless successes not only for you, but for the community, the country you love and to the world that you want to make a better place to live. Congratulations class of 2022! I wish you the best of luck as you embark on another chapter in your academic and professional journey! Thank you.

Please follow and like us: