Every surviving culture has its own strengths. Western world has its protestant work ethic, Japanese are proud inheritors of samurai tradition, African are known for exceptional physical capability and we Indians are respected throughout the world for our spiritual prowess.
Sharda University has students from over 42 countries and has thus become a medley of diverse cultures, backgrounds, and ethnicities. We welcome foreign ambassadors and university deans from across the world .At Sharda University we celebrate the cultures of different countries by encouraging the students to speak about their nations, traditions at various opportunities.
We respect “other” cultures and people from different countries and welcome them by their speech on their nation. It has become the tradition of Sharda family to move together with their foreign partners. As of today we have 15 nations whose flag our university salutes and also bow in front of their culture and traditions. Students from countries like Afghanistan, Gambia, Congo, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Latvia, Nepal, are living the life of global essence and promotes the slogan ‘beyond boundaries’.
The chancellor encouraged the festival of cultural diversity, organized by School of law, by saying that he want more functions of these types to take place in future so that our students become more wise and mature. In the festival the patriotism was exuded from each student. And we respect this feature of “nation love”. There was healthy competition between two nations as Nepalese spoke about Gorkas respect in the world and Tanzanians unique selling point is that River Nile Originates from their native place. Sensitivity to human differences was esteemed and there was ability to accept people from different backgrounds.
Chinese enthralled cosmopolitan audience by giving happy speech, Gambian represented their nation, while Srilankans were happy by finding Indians have common love for cricket.
But all these civilizations also have negative racial stereotypes. These stereotypes were born of a colonization and sheer ignorance. So to remove these stereotypes we lay ground work for comfortable working by interacting with diverse group of people. As world today is indifferent its globalized internet has broken all the contours lines of geography.
We are interacting for more with “other s” then all our ancestors combine. This interaction makes it mandatory for us to learn about “others”. This learning commences from schools. As a matter of policy we are witnessing a diversified student body on amongst most campuses. School of languages and culture plays important role in making university global place. Tomorrow a student of Sharda University can easily go to France, Germany, Spain or China for further studies or start their small business ventures, as SOLg specializes in French, German, Spanish and Chinese languages. For ex- Student from Latvia is learning English to bridge the gap between her life and modern world. We not only teach, we cater the needs of international tie ups by giving them special training of business etiquettes and manners. As the two cultures come together it encourages the students to open roads for communication, technology exchange, intellect and sports activities. At present School of Languages is catering Thaksin University of Thailand by taking responsibility of yoga classes and English classes.
Easter Celebrations play an important role to promote creative thinking. A play was performed on Easter celebrations by African Students. Along the line this diversification has made work potential workers more culturally sensitive and in turn has made them more acceptable to the corporate culture. 160 Nigerian students came to study MTech and have brought lot o healthy qualities to exchange with their peers. The food that was served was Nigerian. Students look forward to specialize in micro biology field at Sharda University. When you see them in long kurtas, you really appreciate the Nigerian embroidery.
It has also led to the formation of cross racial partnerships which has increased the comfort level of organizations. For ex- A white and African American students have followed up friendship in college with opening of business in an African American dominated locality which was earlier thoughts as not possible. At Sharda University is a multicultural campus with students from across the globe. Now our students are partnering with Nigerian Nepalese and Bangladesh friends to expand ventures in these countries areas where their fathers have never thought of going to.
Our strengths have also learned cultural nuances like Nepalese folk dance, African music club, and Latvian politics. We could also become the conveyor of other cultures for ex- one of our professors taught Latin dance to a Chinese delegation. Chinese come here to learn about the depth of yoga and in turn surprise us by their agility and fitness. It enlightens experience to know that Ramayana is a revered tale of Thailand.
Spic Macay performed by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt enthralled the audience and multi-cultural crowd response was enthusiastic and disciplined. In the words of Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt “I didn’t expect such type of discipline and sincerity” . We at Sharda are immensely proud of both our culture and its ambassadors like Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
An ethnocentric mindset is magnified through diversity. The acceptance of new systems and psychology increases while inter mingling with different cultures. Students respect and try to adapt the beauty of psyche of different natives. The more comfortable they are in the different cultures the more they will excel in this competitive but human world.
