Last month, a team of six staff from the Civic Initiative (a business group of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Donahue Institute) were in Islamabad. They held a three-day follow-up conference for alumni from recent cohorts of the Study of the U.S. Institutes Comparative Public Policymaking program that has been held annually by the Civic Initiative since 2010. The SUSI program is funded by the US Department of State Education and Cultural Affairs Office.
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Berkeley-AIPS Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP)
The Berkeley-AIPS Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP-AIPS) was an intensive Urdu language immersion program based at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan for eight years (2014-2021). Jointly administered by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) and the Berkeley Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP) at the University of California, Berkeley, the Urdu language program offered daily classroom instruction, five days a week, for approximately fifteen weeks. The program offered small classes and individual tutorials that were paired with regular assignments outside of class with a special emphasis on connecting with the local speech community as well as self-management of learning. Participants were able to take part in program events, such as attending films, plays and other cultural activities. A 5-year report for the BULPIP-AIPS program is available here, detailing the program history, personnel involved, and some past participants.
[Image: Participants in the 2021 BULPIP-AIPS Program pose for a group photo]
2019 BULPIP-AIPS Summary
The Berkeley Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP), run in conjunction with the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) and the Lahore Institute of Management Studies (LUMS), has now finished its seventh year. BULPIP students undertake a fifteen-week immersion program that not only includes formal training in grammar and literary studies, but also many opportunities to explore Lahore, meet noted intellectuals and public figures, develop friendship with ordinary Lahoris, and pursue their own research. In Fall 2019, the program hosted a cohort of eleven students. They came from a range of American and European universities (including Dartmouth College, University of Washington, University of Texas at Dallas, University of Notre Dame, SOAS University of London, American University, Vanderbilt University, Northwestern University, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Santa Barbara), as well as a variety of departments and programs (Engineering, History, Creative Writing, Anthropology, Political Science, Musical Arts, Asian Languages and Literature, and International Studies). The instructors of the Fall 2019 program were Ms. Sidra Afzal, Mr. Umar Anjum and Ms. Faiza Saleem. The Program Manager was Ms. Saleha Parvaiz, a BULPIP alumna, Class of 2014. According to Dr. Munis D. Faruqui, Faculty Director of the BULPIP program, the 2019 program was the most successful iteration of the program so far with very high student satisfaction and outcomes.
2021 BULPIP-AIPS Program Wrap-Up
The Berkeley Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (BULPIP), run in conjunction with the American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) and the Lahore Institute of Management Studies (LUMS), just completed its eighth and final year. Due to the global pandemic, in Fall 2021, the program hosted a cohort of seven students virtually. They came from a range of universities (including McGill University, Tufts University, University of Virginia, UC Berkeley, ). The instructors of the Fall 2021 program were Mr. Umar Anjum and Ms. Faiza Saleem. For more information about the program and past students, please visit: https://southasia.berkeley.edu/bulpip
[Image: Salima Hashmi gives a guest presentation for BULPIP 2021]