Belarusian State University, Faculty of Journalism: My Alma Mater

Dr. Rabin Man Shakya

Journalist Dr Rabin Man Shakya in front of the main building of Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus in August, 1989.

Portland, Nov 2 (Nepal Oregon News):  Belarusian State University (and its Faculty of Journalism) where I spent about a decade of my student's life in 1980s is in Minsk which is not only the capital and biggest city of Belarus but also one of the few Hero Cities of the former Soviet Union.

 Upon the successful completion of my journalistic studies in Belarus, I got back to my motherland - Nepal. I have had good innings in print journalism and journalism education in Kathmandu before I moved to the United States in 2002. I worked for five months as the assistant editor at the English Desk at the National News Agency of Nepal -- Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS), as sub-editor and then associate editor of The Rising Nepal for about 11 years and as a lecturer of journalism at the Peoples Campus (affiliated to Tribhuvan University) for over 10 years and the credit goes to Belarusian  State University and its Faculty of Journalism. Anyway, as far as our past student life is concerned we all have stories and memories to share. No doubt, a student's life is the most interesting, the most creative and the most hilarious part in a life of a human being.  In both our student and post-student lives,  we all have memories that would provide more than enough opportunity to fill volumes of books and articles. Some of our student-time memories might read like a comedy, some would be like a drama, probably for others more like a mystery, miracle or a conundrum. This short article is all about the reminiscence of my long-time stay in Belarus.

BSU - My Alma Mater:

Well, Belarusian State University (BSU and its faculty of journalism) is my Alma Mater. After completing my Preparatory Faculty (intensive learning of Russian language for a year) in Odessa, Ukraine for six months and in Donetsk, Ukraine for another six months, I was admitted to the Faculty of Journalism at the BSU in Minsk, Belarus in 1980 and in 1985 I successfully completed and passed the Masters Degree in Journalism. 

I was admitted to Ph D program in journalism at the BSU Journalism Faculty in 1986 and I successfully defended the Ph D at the School of Journalism at the Moscow State University in 1989 paving the way for me to become the first Ph D in Journalism in Nepal. But who is the first Masters Degree holder in Journalism in Nepal? As far as I know, senior politician as well as journalist Nilambar Acharya and late writer Krishna Prakash Shrestha were the first and second Nepali persons to earn the Masters Degree in Journalism from  Moscow State University back in early 1970s.

Dr Rabin Man Shakya (second from left) with fellow journalism students of Faculty of Journalism of Belarusian State University from Mauritania, Yemen, Kenya, Ethiopia and Congo, at Belabhezhskoye Pusche in Brest, Belarus in 1982.

In a way, the Nepalese journalism education will be indebted to Belarusian State University for producing first Ph Ds in journalism in Nepal and half a dozen M. As in journalism in 1980s when there was not a single college that could provide Masters Degree in journalism in Nepal.

Anyway, I consider myself a proud alumnus of Belarusian State University. I remember Belarusian State University, back then, in 1980s was truly an international university with hundreds of foreign students coming from across the world. It is to be noted that more than 4,000 foreign students from over 102 nations of the world had studied at the BSU totally free of cost when Belarus was a part of the former Soviet Union until 1991.

Dr Rabin Man Shakya in front of Government House building in Minsk, Belarus in August, 1989.

Belarusian State University which today is a top rated higher educational establishment in the Republic of Belarus was established on Oct 30, 1921, and the Faculty of Journalism was created in 1967. There were at least five professors cum doctors at the Faculty of Journalism of BSU at that time followed by scores of associate professors with Ph D degrees. 

BSU's Faculty of Journalism:

Taking a trip down memory lane, I remember  there were foreign students from about 30 countries at the entire Journalism Faculty at that time. I still remember the excellent teaching approaches of late professor Gregory V. Bulachky, professor Ivan I. Sachenko,  professor Efrosinya L.  Bondareva, Associate Professors Nina A. Snitsereva, Valery Shein, Angelina Rudenko and professor Nina Tikhonovna Froltsova  and so on. Myself I was a lecturer of journalism at the Peoples' Campus (affiliated by Tribhuvan University) for 10 years and also worked as a lecturer for one year for Masters' Program in journalism at Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, Tribhuvan University and at College of Journalism,  and Mass Communication, CJMC, (Purvanchal University) in Kathmandu. During the tenure as a lecturer of journalism at various journalism colleges in Nepal, I nostalgically remember those great journalism professors of the faculty of journalism at Belarusian State University. It also sometimes created a sense of deja vu.

However, I still remember that my class at the faculty of journalism of Belarusian State University boasted of students coming from 15 different countries. I could imagine the difficulties and challenges faced by the professors lecturing in Russian to the diverse audience speaking more than 20 languages and coming from totally different cultures of Asia, Africa and Latin America. I, as a lecturer of journalism in Nepal, did not have to face that kind of difficulty and dilemma like teaching to students from different countries.

Faculty of Journalism at the BSU is one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the world. At present, the journalism faculty at the BSU is manned by 66 staff including nine Professors - Doctors of Science and 39 Ph Ds. In 2015, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to a Belarusian female writer Svetlana Alexievich who obtained Masters Degree in Journalism from the Faculty of Journalism at the Belarusian State University in 1978.

No doubt, I had a lot of friends from different countries studying journalism and other subjects at the BSU. We spent time hanging out with international friends in Minsk cafes, parks, cinema halls and thoroughfares. My friends from Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America spoke in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and in many other languages, but we all used to communicate and interact with each other only in Russian at that time. Well, Russian was kind of a 'lingua franca' for all the international students studying in Belarus and other Soviet republics at that time.

I remember Komsomolskoye Ozero, a man-made lake in Minsk, and I also remember Leninsky Avenue was one of Minsk's busiest and longest thoroughfares. I also fondly remember Victory Square (Ploshad Pobedi), an obelisk erected to commemorate the victory of the Soviet people over  German Fascism.

Belarus - Eastern European Wonderland:

I remember during my student days  at the BSU, besides Minsk and its periphery, I was able to visit other major Belarusian cities like Gomel, Vitebsk, Brest and Mogilev. In terms of natural beauty, Belarus is really a beautiful and amazing country. It will not be an exaggeration to assert that Belarus is one of the Eastern European wonderlands. I will never forget the memorable moments I spent at the Belavezhskoye Pusche in Brest region.

Also, especially memorable were my visits to Brest Hero Fortress and Khatyn Memorial Complex. Khatyn was erected in memory of the Belarusians killed by German fascists during the Second World War popularly called Great Patriotic War in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.

It is to be noted that more than 20 million Soviet people had to sacrifice their lives in the Great Patriotic War. Belarus lost every third resident during the Great Patriotic War.

Also, during my nine years stay in Minsk for my school, I was able to travel to other republics, such as, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Moldavia etc. At that time, it was one country: the USSR.


I was familiar with a lot of Belarusian friends (journalism as well as non-journalism) such as  Victor Shadursky, Alexander Samuilich and Vladimir Krukovsky etc. All of them were the Ph D scholars at the BSU at that time. Today, Victor Shadursky is the Dean of Faculty of International Relations at the BSU whereas Alexander Samuilich is the director of Center for International Relations under Ministry of Education of Belarus.

Even in the 1980s,  journalism faculty at the BSU was committed to provide students with all modern and well equipped lecture halls.The precondition for quality education, I think, is a commitment to developing an appropriate teaching and learning environment, where teachers, students, learning materials and aids are properly mobilized, and BSU's Journalism Faculty had it all.

 Even in 1970-1980s I remember, BSU's Journalism Faculty had its own Photography Department with Dark Room facilities, TV Broadcasting Section and Radio Broadcasting Section. Each student was required to possess a professional camera.

Unlike today's higher educational establishments, all the students - Belarusian, Russian and international students - were provided higher studies with free tuition, free medical coverage, free accommodation  and good scholarships. All the students were provided with free text books and workbooks. Even one-time purchase of warm overcoats, jackets, warm caps, warm boots and shoes, warm clothes, gloves, socks  was absolutely free. All this may sound like a fairy tale today, but it is absolutely true during the good old days.

As a matter of fact, there are more than 6,000 people who have obtained Masters Degree from BSU's Faculty of Journalism. Among them, over 500 students from Nepal, China, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Nigeria, Kenya, Yemen, Syria, Senegal, Ghana, Congo, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Poland and other countries have received the Masters Degree from the BSU's Journalism Faculty.

Needless to say, Nepalese graduates of journalism from Belarus and Russia have definitely tremendous impact on media education in Nepal. Dr Manju Mishra is the founder and principal of College of Journalism and Mass Communication which launched M.A. courses of journalism for the first time in Nepal. Likewise, Prabal Raj Pokhrel and Badri Poudel are associate professors at the Central Department of Journalism of the Tribhuvan University. Other notable journalism educators include Dr Rabin Man Shakya, Bijay Lal Shrestha and late Dr Achyut Babu Koirala and so on.

However, journalism education started in Nepal with the launching of two-year IA classes in journalism at the Ratna Rajya Campus in 1976. Later, IA classes in Journalism were launched at the Peoples Campus as well in 1986. These two colleges were, pretty much, the educational establishments which provided journalism education until 2000s. Prior to my moving to the United States in 2002, I was involved as a lecturer of journalism at both the Peoples and RR Campus.

Tremendous strides have been made towards the development of media education in Nepal. Today. more than 250 colleges of Nepal have been running journalism classes and, at least, five of them run Masters Course in Journalism.  It goes without saying that journalism education is gaining more quantitative growth than the required qualitative development. There is no doubt that qualitative and skilled journalism education is the quintessence of rapidly growing Nepalese media industry.

Journalism graduates from Belarusian and Russian universities work not only in the journalism schools in Nepal, but they also worked in some good positions in Nepal's official mass media in the past.

Speaking of BSU, three Nepalese persons had obtained Ph D degrees in journalism having enrolled at the Belarusian State University's Faculty of Journalism: (1) Rabin Man Shakya (2) Gita Maiya Shrestha and (3) late Achyut Babu Koirala. BSU alumnus Prabal Raj Pokhrel is associate professor at the Central Department of Journalism, TU and another BSU journalism alumnus Ramji Neupane is also working in media fields.

Nostalgia:

Belarus was part of the USSR when I was a student of journalism  at the Belarusian State University. What an amazing  country the USSR was  and I am still nostalgic about the BSSR and RSFSR and many other union republics. Nostalgia comes back in many forms and one of them is the language. Here in  USA, Canada or in Nepal, whenever we happen to meet the former Nepali students who studied in BSSR, RSFSR and other former Soviet republics, we still speak in Russian very fluently with each other spontaneously. That is the memory and habit, and old habits (of speaking in Russian  with each other) die hard. 

By the way, there are about 10,000 Russians  living in Oregon, USA. It is always a great privilege for me to interact and communicate in Russian with the Russian Americans, Ukrainian Americans and people coming from different republics of the former Soviet Union.

Anna Shrustova, Dmitri Skvortsov and Alexei Dobry  are Sangha members of America's only one Newar Vajrayana Buddhist temple in Portland. Whenever we meet with each other at the Newar Buddhist temple, we always talk in Russian, while other Sangha members of the temple look at us with disbelief.

  

Nepal-Belarus Relations:

It is heartening to note that Belarus - the country of my alma mater - is maintaining cordial and friendly relations with Nepal. Actually, Belarus is probably the third country in Europe - after Russia and Ukraine - which has rendered cooperation to Nepal in field of higher education like engineering, medicine, economics and journalism. 

Although Nepal and Belarus both are countries with long and ancient civilization,  diplomatic relations between Nepal and Belarus were established only on July 19, 1993, but both countries have not been able to establish embassies in Kathmandu and Minsk, nevertheless, sister city relations have also been established between Kathmandu and Minsk. So far, Belarus has an honorary consulate in Kathmandu, operated by Belarusian Embassy in New Delhi, India whereas Nepal also has an honorary consulate general in Minsk, the Belarusian capital.

Dr Upendra Mahato, a noted entrepreneur and founder and former president of International Coordination Council of Non-resident Nepalese Association (NRNA) is the Honorary Consul General of Nepal to Belarus, where as Ajey Raj Sumargi Parajuli is the Consul General of Belarus to Nepal.

 Speaking of Nepal-Belarus friendly relations, Belarus has extended cooperation to Nepal by preparing high-level technical manpower. I remember when I was a student at the BSU School of Journalism, the number of Nepalese students community  in Minsk, Belarus exceeded over 100 in mid 1980s. Nearly 500 Nepalese who have obtained higher education in Belarus in 1970s and 1980s are now working in senior positions in different ministries of Nepal government, universities and non-governmental organizations. Most of the Nepalese graduates from Belarus are engineers who studied at Belarusian National Technical University which was then known as Byelorussian Polytechnic Institute (BPI).

Nepal-Belarus educational contacts date back to 1963. It was in that year that some Nepalese students were admitted to Byelorussian Polytechnic Institute as part of bilateral educational cooperation between Nepal and the Soviet Union. 

A number of  former Nepalese students of the Belarusian higher educational establishments have been directly or indirectly playing enormous role in enhancing Nepal-Belarus relations  in the people to people level. Many of them have been actively contributing in the works and activities of organizations like Mitra Kunja. An alumni association called "Belarusian Graduates in Nepal" was established some years ago under the chairmanship of Dr Upendra Mahato. The first gathering of the "Belarusian Graduates in Nepal" was organized at Hotel Soaltee Crown Plaza in Kathmandu in 2016.

Trade and commercial relations between Nepal and Belarus are still in the initial phase of development. But, given the fact that our neighboring countries India, China and Bangladesh etc have benefitted from trade with Belarus, there is a tremendous scope and potential for Nepal-Belarus trade expansion as well.

However, trade between Nepal and Belarus increased from 41 thousand dollars in 2012 to 2960.6 thousand dollars in January-October of 2017.

Interestingly, I was  still the Secretary of Nepal-Russia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NRCCI), when a ten-member Nepalese business delegation headed by NRCCI president Lok Manya Golchha had visited Russia and Belarus in 2000 AD. It was at that time that the Nepalese side signed a contract to buy $ 500,000 worth of Belarusian tractors. Still today MAZ Belarusian tractors are popular in Nepal.

Nepali Students Association (NSA) in Minsk:

I remember we used to have a Nepali Students Association  (popularly known as Nepalskoye Zemlyachestvo in Russian) in Minsk back then. NSA was an organization of the Nepalese students in Belarus that championed the cause of uniting the Nepalese students in Belarus and also aiming to help the students in any possible way. All the Nepalese students studying at various educational establishments in Minsk and other Belarusian cities were the members of the Nepali Students Association which was able to connect up with the Nepalese students community in Belarus at that time.

There were many traditions and activities associated with the Nepali Students Association in Belarus. NSA used to organize annual summer picnic and Bijaya Dasami celebration and so on. Similarly, the NSA used to bring out annual literary magazine called "Ranko". Likewise, there was a rock music band of the Nepalese students in Minsk called "Ranko" at that time. The band used to play Russian, Nepali and English songs at various important events.

By the way, Dr Upendra Mahato who, at that time, was a student at Byelorussian Polytechnic Institute (BPI) was also the president of NSA for two years in 1985-1987.

The quintessence of education is the commitment  of students to study. Majority of the Nepalese students completed and passed their Masters Degree from various Belarusian educational establishments with flying colors.

Although Belarus was communist in the past, today it is an active member of non-aligned movement. Twenty six years old trajectory of cordial relations between Nepal and Belarus epitomizes friendly ties subsisting between two active non-aligned nations. Nepal was one of the countries in the 1990s to recognize Belarus after the downfall of the former Soviet Union in 1991. The synthesis of dynamic friendly relations and mutually beneficial economic and trade ties is the need of the hour.





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**Shakya is also former State Education Director, NRNA-USA Oregon Chapter, Portland, USA. Shakya also taught journalism at the Peoples Campus, R R Campus, Tribhuvan University.