M
essage from Rector
It is never easy to leave Costa Rica, and certainly not easy during the beginning of this beautiful dry season. It is also not easy to leave UPEACE with its unique mission and very special community to which I shall remain devoted as long as I live.
I have several New Year hopes for UPEACE, many of which are well on their way to being achieved: These include:
- Continued development of our excellent academic teaching and research programmes and our ability to attract intelligent and committed students from all parts of the world;
- Increased extension of the reach of UPEACE by offering our face-to-face teaching programmes of graduate degrees and short courses with partner institutions in a growing number of countries;
- Extending our reach even further through distance e-learning technologies;
- Attaining a sustainable financial base for our core costs, on top of which fundraising for special projects will be relatively easy;
- Continuing to strengthen our alumni network with full participation of and connectivity with all of its members.
- Closer links with partners who share our values: the UN system, other academic institutions, NGOs and governments, including those hosting various parts of the UPEACE system.
And, on a more personal note, I shall strive, from my new vantage point as Director General of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), to do everything possible to bring the communities concerned with peace and security closer to those concerned with environment, conservation of natural resources and sustainable development.
I look forward therefore to working closely with UPEACE in the years to come, as a member of the Council and as a faithful friend, and will certainly continue to celebrate the successes of this very special and wonderful place.
With very best wishes to all for the holidays and the New Year,
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UPEACE Headquarters staff participates in the Year- End Party of El Rodeo School 
The Year-End Party of El Rodeo School took place on Tuesday 20 December. Members of the Staff Association, Staff and students participated in the activity, delivering the Christmas presents to the Children of the school. Christmas Carols were sung by the "UPEACE Choir" and the gifts that the staff so kindly have provided were distributed to the kids.
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Messages from students
The festive break at UPEACE
Sharad Ghimire
Nepal
MA in Environmental Security and Peace
While I was writing these paragraphs, all students are being ready to welcome the upcoming break. However for that we are doing hard to complete our due papers and to finalize our proposals before the break.
It has been a wonderful experience of almost four months in Costa Rica and UPEACE. Coming here from the exactly opposite part of the globe (with almost 12 hrs of time-difference), I have surprisingly found similar natural surrounding as central valley of Costa Rica reminded me Kathmandu valley and the location of UPEACE resembled with the location of my previous university, Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. The diversity in the UPEACE in every aspect, from its cultural aspects to the way of learning, teaching and communicating is equally challenging as well as beneficial. It has been a wonderful transition for me not only from my previous training of natural science to the social science but also from less-interactive and one-way deliberating mode of education to the highly interactive so-called the western mode of education as the later one is being more relevant for the current world.
After the quick pass of four months, we are having a festive-break, which can be seen in faces of all friends and also in whole Costa Rican society. Being a Hindu from Nepal, where Christmas and the Gregorian new year has no meaning religiously and traditionally, but the impacts of globalization are also there putting importance over these days, I have been experiencing celebration of these festivals since last couple of years also in my home country. But here in Costa Rica, it will be amazing lively experience of these times and I am looking forward to having this period in more relaxed and joyous. At least to start another session of tough and intensive academic life at UPEACE, it will make our heart and mind ready to grasp the tough academic stuffs.
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Anat Nir
Israel
MA in Gender and Peace Building
Dear Friends,
I hope you are all having a great vacation. I am currently in Tel-Aviv, Israel -- It feels good to be home.
When I told all my friends about UPEACE, I found myself talking mostly about you, the wonderful people in UPEACE. It made me realize that it is not only the unique experience UPEACE offers but the people you share it with.
Nicolas Eliades, a great man and UPEACE alumni, told me the day I landed in Costa Rica: “You don’t choose UPEACE, UPEACE chooses you…”
Well, in my eyes, very special people are on the bus to El-Rodeo every day, and I am glad to be one of them.
Happy New Year! I expect 2007 to be a year of growth for us all.
Peace,
Anat Nir
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