C. Lhamu, BT

My maiden journey to RheinAhrCampus in Remagen, Germany was made possible thanks to the Erasmus+ program.

A Blast from the Past

After a long journey from Bhutan, the land of the Thunder Dragon and the birthplace of Gross National Happiness, to Frankfurt Airport, a scenic train ride along the river Rhine transported me back to my childhood days, reminiscent of romantic novels featuring knights in their castles steeped in secrets and mysteries. Each castle on the hillocks, peeking from behind lush green thickets, was an enticing invitation to explore Germany.

This wish was granted when Professor Michael Langenbahn and his lovely wife took me on a guided tour of Marksburg Castle, the only castle that escaped destruction, overlooking the town of Braubach in Rhineland-Palatinate. From materials for the castle to utensils, tools, and toilets, I realised that civilizations did not differ much, despite developing at different rates.

Sparking Interest in the “Dot on the World Map”

The USA, Canada, and Australia need no marketing; students from developed and developing countries alike look forward to experiencing these globally renowned countries or the Asian giants—India and China. How to introduce Bhutan to young college students who seek the global reputation of institutions, job opportunities, and financial support to study abroad was a million-dollar question on my mind.

Thanks to the Language and International Relations Office at RheinAhrCampus, I had three sessions on “Putting Bhutanese Values into Action,” two sessions sharing about “The National Youth Policy Project” in Bhutan that used a participatory approach to policy revision, and a lecture on “Gross National Happiness—an alternative development paradigm.” Additionally, the “Study in Bhutan” session and the International Day Information Booth provided ample opportunities to create awareness and spark interest in Bhutan—a dot on the world map.

While many must have resonated with Bhutanese collectivist values and their manifestation in everyday interactions, I bet my sessions created cognitive dissonance in many others from more individualistic cultural backgrounds. In doing so, I believe the Erasmus+ agenda was fulfilled, as the mobility succeeded in introducing students to a culture that is very different from their own.

Lessons in Navigating the Cultural Chasm

Two weeks at RheinAhrCampus provided deep introspection as an educator and the Dean for External Relations at the Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan.

As a collectivist society, Bhutanese culture values fitting in versus standing out, compliance versus questioning norms, and maintaining harmony versus embracing differences. These values are nuanced, with individual differences and context-specific applications. I risk oversimplifying the complexities of Bhutanese cultural values and beliefs, but after two weeks at RheinAhrCampus, I surmised that Bhutanese cultural socialisation much to the chagrin of the educators, can disadvantage students in a European context that values standing out, independence, critical voice, and confronting differences directly. 

It was an awakening moment for me to recognise the need to better prepare Bhutanese students for multicultural learning—not to replace Bhutanese cultural values with European ones, but to broaden the horizon by cultivating the confidence to be different, the courage to challenge norms, the curiosity of the unknown, and the belief in their voice and views as invaluable contributions to deepening their learning and others’. 

As much as I learned from this teaching mobility experience, I hope that the students and faculty at RheinAhrCampus also gained valuable insights and perspectives from my sessions. I met some wonderful people in Germany and networked with professors from other European countries at Hochschule Koblenz.

It was heartening to see students running to catch up with me on the last day in Remagen just to say goodbye! As is in Bhutanese culture, we don't say "goodbye," but "see you again!"
 

Hochschule Koblenz is able to offer teaching staff mobility with partner countries in the framework of ERASMUS+ KA 171. The national agency in charge of this programme is the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).