Visit Hans Vos @ Bhutan

Statician calculates value of sabbatical

Lecturing in one of the world’s newest democracies

When Dr. Hans Vos, university assistant professor in psychometrics, made plans for his sabbatical leave, he remembers his thoughts: “To be honest, before teaching a few Bhutanese students who invited me to come lecture, I’d never really heard much about the country.”

Like clockwork, every five years the opportunity arises for tenured academic staff to be granted a hiatus from their regular workload to conduct research elsewhere, lecture at another educational institute or have time to explore other academic endeavors.

Last summer, Vos flew to the small city Paro on the only existing Bhutanese national air carrier Drukair, seizing a moment to glimpse out the window at the snow-covered peeks of Mount Everest, poking through the cloud cover. Once on firm ground, he noticed stray dogs roaming around, cows in the streets blocking traffic and cars stopped, waiting for them to pass. “You cannot kill them according to Buddhist beliefs or any animal for that matter.” 

Eventually, he settled in for three weeks to teach his workshop, “Minds Under Construction,” at the Royal Education Council (REC) and the Bhutanese Board of Examinations (BBC), two educational institutes directly involved in creating national tests for primary and secondary schools, roughly comparable to the CITO tests administered in the last year of Dutch primary schools. He worked on statistics to analyze education through psychological tests and developed computer software for the analysis of standardized tests.

The second part of his stay, Vos toured the country, visiting public schools to speak to principals, teachers and students. “I especially enjoyed talking to students. The level of English is good despite they have their own native language. It is the medium of instruction, and when they come to the UT, they don’t really need to be tested in English. I visited many schools where they are learning English in kindergarten, everything from science to history is taught in English.”

In the nation’s capital Thimpur, where red-robed monks are ordinary citizens and can be seen talking on mobile phones on the streets, a peaceful feeling reigns in the Buddhist kingdom. “Monks are human,” observed Vos. “Buddhism is quite earthy in Bhutan, just a way of living. In the western world, people think everyone is just mediating everyday and wandering around. Not really, they are concrete and practical.” Vos believes this is a reflection of their spiritual attitude and a sign religion saturates everyday life: “A few years ago, they tried to install traffic lights, but people didn’t like it, and they brought a policeman back to control the flow of traffic.” Like much in the tiny country of 600,000 inhabitants, nestled in the Himalayan mountain chain and sandwiched between the world’s most populous nations, India and China, Bhutan still determines its own destiny.

As an example, a growing number of academics are interested to attend schools in the Netherlands. Firm ties with the Dutch Royals have created a good relationship between the countries. “Bhutanese don’t want too much contact with superpowers like Russia and the U.S. because neighboring Tibet is politically sensitive.” says Vos. “The military in India protects them, and there is a lot of export and exchange between the two countries. They prefer to have contact with smaller nations. Politically, it’s safer and that’s why they like Holland and also Switzerland, a country with a similar landscape.”

As an alternate to increase gross national product, Bhutan’s former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, was the brainchild of the notion of gross national happiness, a concept gaining popularity in a world awry with an economic crisis and being steadily guided by the principles of industrialized nations. “They look at what they have and think of which aspects of another culture to incorporate in their country. The concept of G.N.H. is based on trying to keep their own traditional culture and not accepting all western ways. Sustainability, for instance, is important, and they invest in human interaction and contact,” explained Vos.

The first time the Bhutanese held elections in 2008, he was told the reaction of most people was not enthusiastic: “Why hold an election, the king makes good decisions, and what the king wants is fine with us.” At that time, according to Vos, “They didn’t know anything about the concept of democracy.”

Broadening the scope of cultural exchange, Vos and the Director of International Education Jan Nelissen are trying to formulate a plan to institutionalize the cooperation between the two institutes through a joint effort with the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC). “Maybe in the future we could have an exchange of employees and students. I would like to return to Bhutan.” says Vos. “I’ve traveled to so many countries and in Europe, everywhere really. You cannot compare any of these places with Bhutan. People look at life completely different. It’s a unique country.”