On Wednesday, Bahman 23, 1392 (February 12, 2014), Dr. Enayat A. Shabani had a meeting with representatives of TUMS international students. This meeting, which took place about two weeks before the TUMS International Day, was mainly aimed at exchanging ideas on how international students could engage in organizing the TUMS International Day (March 5) in celebration of Norooz.
Attended by a few other members of the Directorate of International Affairs and Development (DIAD), the meeting started with Dr. Shabani’s explanations about the general intention, timetable and activities of this event. He talked about the TUMS International Students’ Exhibition, which makes up a major part of the programs designed for the occasion. Also in brief, the Director of International Affairs and Development explained about the activities the students could take up in this exhibition, such as displaying short movies, pictures, interesting items and even edibles specific to their country. Furthermore, Dr. Shabani emphasized the social and cultural values of this event and the way international students could share with the guests their lives in their native countries and their academic experiences at TUMS.
Dr. Shabani, arriving at the main goal of this meeting, asked the present students to choose a representative, one for each country that has students in TUMS, whose main responsibility will be acting as a bridge between DIAD and international students of each country, with the aim of effectively coordinating the responsibilities of all international students and facilitating their participation in the TUMS International Day.
Afterwards, the students proposed their various ideas on how to make their participation more effective in the event. They also asked for the support of the Office of Vice-Chancellor for Global Strategies and International Affairs (GSIA) in order to even make their presence more highlighted; a request which was unconditionally accepted.
At the end of this meeting, which took about two hours, it was decided that weekly meetings should be held with the presence of representatives of students, revolving mainly around the topic of TUMS Norooz celebrations of Esfand 14, in order to further discuss any needs, opportunities and possibilities concerning the program of that future event.
By Arya Rahimi Golkhandan