Nur University Growth

Nur Participates in the National Dialogue on Reducing Poverty

In July, Nur University's Research and Development Department (DPID), participated in an activity to enrich the National Dialogue to Fight Poverty which was carried out in several communities in the Departments of Potosí, Tarija, and Santa Cruz.The activity consisted of facilitating participation by the civil society in the process.

Since the 1st National Dialogue [which was held] in 1997, the Bolivian government has been trying to strengthen collaboration by international cooperation agencies on the one hand and the involvement of civil society more directly in such processes.

Given this background, it was seen that significant efforts have been made to increase the quality and quantity of civil society participation in defining the problems and the mechanisms for fair development and the fight against poverty in Bolivia.

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Cisco Networking Academy

Cisco Systems has announced the establishment of the first Cisco Networking Academy (CNA) in Bolivia, at Nur University.

CNA's certification means a general knowledge of networks (not limited to Cisco's technology). Holders of the certificate are in a position to quickly find jobs and are better prepared to enter those universities that are oriented towards Engineering and Sciences.

Then U.S. Vice President, Al Gore, in a speech on Connecting all the Americans by the 21st Century, given in 1998, announced, "I am very happy about our efforts in providing the people with new techniques and training. I am very proud to inform you all about Cisco's commitment. Cisco's Academic Network program gives a first-class ticket to finding a well-paid job, with a high level of training".

The program is supported by Regional Academies throughout the world, that are in charge of assigning and supervising the Local Academies. Cisco Systems has designated the Proydesa Foundation, a foundation with experience in developing educational and training software, as the Regional Academy in Argentina and Latin America. In Bolivia, Nur University has been designated as the Local Academy.

The Networking Academy is a program aimed at educating and certifying students in the principles and practices of designing, setting-up and doing the maintenance of computer networks that are capable of supporting organizations having a national and global scope. In the United States alone a recent study by the Department of Commerce has calculated a demand for 850,000 jobs to work in IT (Information Technology). In the Republic of Argentina the telephone and communication companies place the demand for the year 2000 at 20,000 jobs.

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Campaign 2002 Healthy Children

The "2002 Healthy Children" campaign, which began in Washington in December 1999, has extended to Bolivia with the goal of reducing by 100,000 the deaths of children under the age of 5 in the world by the year 2002. At the 41st meeting of the Pan American Health Organization's Board of Directors, held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Bolivia assumed a commitment to reduce by 6,000 the number of such deaths by the year 2002. Every year in Bolivia 22,000 children die before reaching 5 years of age.

Nur University joined this campaign when Mr. Manoutcher Shoaie, Rector of the University, signed the National Declaration to Support the Initiative of the Pan-American Health Organization's Healthy Children, Goal 2002. The act was held on Friday in the Auditorium of the Prefecture with the participation of a wide range of local, regional and national organizations. Nur University is developing a program in the rural area in keeping with the Regional Declaration which it signed on Friday.

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2000 Mona Foundation First Visit

Visit to Nur, January 21 - 25, 2001

We planned this exploratory trip at the invitation of Nur University to visit the site and review their expansion and development project. It is truly an amazing learning experience to personally witness the unfoldment of another layer of an educational model designed specifically to serve our individual interests as well as our collective common good. Below is a brief report.

It currently has 3,200 undergraduates, 500 graduates, and in excess of 1000 continuing educational students, with teacher training apparatus in 8 countries in South and Central America (in the past two months alone, it has trained 1000 teachers in Ecuador in its Educational Leadership Program.) Of that number 46% of the students receive financial assistance from the University through scholarships, discounts based on economic need, or work study positions.

Mona Foundation will do its best to support this university.

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