Round Two: Ding Ding!

I wanted to give a brief overview of my courses and classes this semester.  Although I have been in them for several weeks now, it takes a bit of time to get a grip on everything, especially since we haven’t had a break in between semesters to recover.

This semester, I am enrolled in four classes and my Thesis seminar.  There are two compulsory courses – Globalization and the Politics of Public Policy, and one elective.  However, I couldn’t choose between the two electives and found them both so interesting; I am taking both Migration and Conflict Resolution.

We managed to find time to celebrate Chinese New Year!

Globalization is an incredibly interesting course with what appears to be an exceptional syllabus of topics.  In our second week, we took a field trip to Maha Chai, which from my earlier discussions and recounts of the trip in this blog, was incredibly educational, eye-opening and reinforcing.  We have weekly lectures in addition to weekly debates where students must debate publicly against one another – fielding questions from their opponents, professors and fellow students in the audience.  It is tough but very effective educationally and teaches critical analysis and argument, which are two very important aspects to understand in the real world.

Politics of Public Policy is my second compulsory course, and so far I am less than thrilled with the course.  Perhaps I had a misunderstanding of what this course was about: I assumed it had to do with the realist or practical application of public policy in history and the world today.  However, it appears to be much like the course I took in the first semester on Development Theory and Practice – where we are learning about the various theories of capitalism, neo-liberalism, Marxism, and more.  I am hopeful that it will pick up in the next few weeks and look forward to our guest lecturers that will contribute their unique field expertise.

Conflict Resolution is another one that has a very promising curriculum.  One of the lecturers and course instructors is one of the three authors to the first conflict resolution manual adopted by the United Nations, and comes in with over forty years of experience in conflict.  Our guest lecturers are famous peacemakers from all corners of the globe and I have found this course to be hands on learning – where the students are able to use conflict mapping and learn much more from a practical basis.

Migration is another promising course – with a visit to refugee camps in the North scheduled later in March.  I am fascinated by migration patterns around the world, and this course does an excellent job of covering the various types of migrations – be they refugees, internally displaced persons, or students studying in a foreign country!

Lastly, the dreaded thesis.  I have no idea at this time what I am going to write about, but promise to keep you posted.  There have been several complications with microfinance and given the recent politics, I think it is best that I explore a different aspect in the meantime.  If anyone has any fabulous ideas or thought-provoking arguments, please send them my way :)