New Students’ Orientation Program (19/7/2024 - 20/7/2024)

Reported by Ms. Anjali Patil, MA student
The International Buddhist College (IBC) organized two days of its annual New Students’ Orientation Program (NSOP) on 19/7/2024 and 20/7/2024 to warmly welcome and introduce new students for the Academic Year 2024/2025.

The first day of the orientation program commenced at 8:30 am with a warm and encouraging speech by Ven. Dr. Wei Wu or Shifu. Shifu shared some information about the establishment of IBC and encouraged the students to adapt themselves to the new environment and culture in Thailand. Then, Ven. Zhen Sheng took the opportunity to introduce the administrative aspects of the college such as visa, transportation, food and maintenance matters to the students by introducing the staff who oversee the related jobs.

Following this, Ven. Zhen Ti introduced faculty office staff who are knowledgeable in their subjects. After that, Ven. Dr. Wei Wu introduced the Kalyānamitra concept to the students. The Kalyānamitra group is led by Sis. Lyn Foong from Penang, Malaysia and they will support the new students in all aspects. Then, she introduced her team members to the students. We had a group photo with all the Venerables, nuns, faculty members and students.

Subsequently, Professor Kapila Abhayawansa spoke about preparing ourselves for higher education to the students which was very informative and interesting. Besides that, Dr. Fa Qing spoke about the same with Chinese medium students. After a break, Prof. Mattia Salvini gave a sharing on the “Factors Conducive to Good Academic Writing” (English medium), and Dr. Zhu Xiaoning elaborated on “The confirmation for research writing topic” for Chinese medium students.

In the afternoon, Venerable Dipananda hosted the session between the Kalyānamitra members and the students. We were also honoured to have Bro. Leong Kok Hing who shared with us “The Role of IBC Students in Global Buddhism”. With his amazing presentation, he went into great detail on how Buddhism expanded throughout the world, the conditions both then and now, and the roles and responsibilities of IBC students. Ven. Dipananda also briefed the students about the rules and regulations of the library. The New Students’ Orientation Program ended with a tour of the campus.

On the second day, Ven. Zhen Ti delivered an informative academic briefing, detailing the college's academic structure, course offerings, and the support available to the students such as academic sponsorship. The students were asked to refer to the IBC website for the latest information about IBC. After that, we had a Question-and-Answer session conducted by Ven. Zhen Sheng. At the end of all the sessions, the students sat for a Quiz. The three students with the best scores, namely Sayalay Obhasi (MA1), Ms. Yang Xueqin (BA1) and Ms. Zar Zar Tun (BA4) were awarded prizes.

In conclusion, the New Students’ Orientation Program marked a remarkable and successful beginning for the Academic Year 2024/2025. We would like to express our gratitude to IBC and all those who supported the program in one way or another. Hopefully, we may have a chance to join the program again in the future.

Thank you all!