English language for Bangladeshi nurses

The Bangladesh Health Project initially focused on developing the nursing college at IUBAT – the International University of Business, Agriculture and Technology, an English-medium university in Dhaka. Due to a lack of local faculty, international volunteers taught the BSN students; many brought donated textbooks because there were few nursing texts in Bangla let alone English. For the nursing students, the huge effort to master a foreign language was rewarded with access to vast resources for life-long professional development. Many hospitals and other employers also relied on English because of their international staff.

Recently IUBAT grad Mohammed Ali joined Oxford University for post-graduate studies. He writes, “I learned that my new classmates from non-English speaking countries had to achieve high scores on the IELTS exam to get into Oxford. However, I have been exempted from the English language test following assessment of my skills. I am truly grateful to the visiting teachers from Canada, the USA, UK, and Australia who provided me with an excellent foundation in the English language.”

Scholarship for IUBAT alumnus

Mohammad Ali (Kiron), is an IUBAT BScN graduate and former College of Nursing faculty member. For several years, Ali has been working at a burn unit in Sweden, during which time he completed a Masters in International Health. (To become registered as a nurse, he also learned Swedish in addition to Bangla and English!)

Ali's professional focus is reproductive health and he recently wrote an editorial on the high rate of C-sections in Bangladesh that was published in a leading Dhaka newspaper.

Ali has now been accepted for PhD studies at the Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health at University of Oxford. Due to the patriarchal nature of family relations in his society, Ali plans to research the decision-making role of Bangladeshi men in C-sections. His career goal is to return to Bangladesh to teach and to work for an NGO, Save the Children Bangladesh.

You may remember, if you taught him at IUBAT, that Ali worked extremely hard to overcome a weak high-school education. Although from a very modest background himself, since graduating he has supported young people from his village to enroll in nursing studies.

You can read below about Ali's efforts to meet his tuition costs at Oxford. We want to ensure that this remarkable young man is able to continue his academic journey, both for his future contribution to population health and to serve as a role-model to other young nurses in Bangladesh. As always, you can contribute through the Mid-Main Community Health Centre website. (https://www.midmain.net/donate) For donations over $500 or if you do not need a CRA tax-deductible receipt, please contact us directly so that we can avoid the transaction fees.

Roshani Kandel DNP

Congratulations to IUBAT BScN graduate, Roshani Kandel who has just successfully completed her Doctorate of Nursing Practice at the University of Iowa, USA. The topic of Roshani’s DNP project was “Promotion of Skin Integrity among Long-term Care Residents”. During her recent thesis defense, Roshani described the challenges and successes of introducing a training program for nursing aides through the pandemic with its complex precautions and high staff turn-over. No easy task! Visiting faculty will remember that while a student Roshani was active in leading College of Nursing activities and participating in university-wide programs. Well done, Roshani!