Dr Karma Jigyel

Postcard from Paro, Bhutan

“UNE has a long history of supporting the Bhutanese education system and has always been a very close friend of higher educational institutions in Bhutan, particularly the colleges of education. Many distinguished UNE professors and academics continue to contribute to our education system.

After completing my Masters at UNE I returned to Bhutan and joined Samtse College of Education (SCE), Royal University of Bhutan, as a lecturer. What I learnt at UNE supported me immensely in teaching undergraduate students’ modules in research, mathematics education and assessment.

In 2007, I moved to Paro College of Education (PCE). As time progressed, I started conducting small research projects, and publishing articles with national and local journals, thanks to the research knowledge I had acquired through my research project at UNE.

In 2015, after numerous applications to various Australian universities, UNE generously offered me a scholarship to do my PhD, for which I will always be indebted. My PhD (thesis by journal article format) focused on Inclusive and Special Education for children with special needs in Bhutanese schools. I had a fully committed and awesome supervisory team that supported me wholeheartedly. Armidale became like my second home.

Before I completed my PhD in 2018, I was able to publish two of my five chapters in reputed international journals. And now all five have been published. A great achievement indeed, that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my supervisors.

After completing my PhD in 2018 I returned to my parent organisation, PCE, and was assigned the role of Program Leader responsible for developing Bhutan’s first Master of Education in Inclusive Education program, which was already in progress. It was launched in Spring 2020, with a cohort of 20 in-service teachers from schools all over Bhutan. Our second cohort, which started in Spring 2021, includes 11 more in-service teachers.

The knowledge that I gained during my PhD with UNE has helped me immensely in developing this program. I have also initiated a three-year project with PCE in partnership with the University of Roehampton (UK), University College Leuven-Limburg (Belgium) and Evalag (Germany) to develop a diploma program for teacher assistants in schools that support special education. This will be offered at PCE in 2024, supported by the European Commission. I am also engaged in a three-year, multi-country study in partnership with Kathmandu University (Nepal) and the South Asian Institute of Social Transformation (Bangladesh) to investigate educational innovations for out-of-school children with disabilities and children at risk of dropping out of school. This project is funded by the International Development Research Centre and Global Partnership of Education and, like the first, will provide opportunities for me to submit articles to reputed international journals in the field of inclusive and special education.

I owe all these achievements to the knowledge I gained at UNE, and the unconditional support of both UNE and the Australian Government. As an academic today, my purpose is to serve Bhutan in addressing the issues of inclusive and special education for children with disabilities and their families, and to contribute to the area of inclusive education globally. Last, but not least, I sincerely thank Dr Judith Miller, former Associate Professor, UNE, for her amazing support as a mentor and friend, and for making my family’s stay in Armidale such a memorable and successful one.”