India: Sri Lanka: Principals who direct some 50 Christian colleges & universities gather today

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA— A conference of Principals of colleges and universities in India that was previously scheduled for May in Bangkok, Thailand, is now rescheduled for September 9-12, 2010, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The reason for the re-location is due to the April advisory of India's govt, recommending  that citizens avoid nonessential travel to Bangkok where explosions had killed one person and injured dozens in the city’s main financial district; the travel advisory continued into the month of May.  So, thereupon, the three sponsors of the planned Principals' Conference -- IAPCHE, the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), and the Student Christian Movement of India (SCMI) -- hastily tried to re-organize the event in another location, but were not able to effect the change. The organizers then agreed to change the date and venue.

Invitation

Therefore, we re-issue our warm invitation to institutions world-wide to join Indian principals (presidents) at the 4-day event with the theme Strengthening through Networking. India is the country with the most IAPCHE institutional members. These institutions have a long history of carrying out their mission in a pluralistic national context, where Hinduism and Islam are the majority religions, and where Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism have significant communities as well. 

IAPCHE had sponsored an earlier all-India assemblage when more than 50 Indian institutions gathered at a conference in Bangalore in 2009 and agreed to meet again in 2010. This conference is an ideal opportunity for IAPCHE institutions world-wide to make connections with the 50+ Indian institutions; the conference gathered in Sri Lanka last n+te, opening the second such Principal's conference -- this time on the island off the Indian subcontinent in Sri Lanka's capital of Colombo.

We believe that this gathering of colleges founded on Christian values will further our institutions’ mission. Possible benefits include establishing contacts for international students’ admissions, and twinning/joint programs among these h+er ed institutions.  A concept paper and conference brochure was made accessible at Iapche's webs+t. (www.iapche.org). 

About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a presidential parliamentary democracy with a developing economy. In May 2009, the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the Tamil Tigers (an apparently terrorist organization, now defunct, aimed at establishing a separate territory and nation for the island's Tamil population), following more than 26 years of civil conflict.  Sri Lanka's Tamil population is perhaps best viewed in its inter-linguistic and inter-ethnic context, where it is in the minority:

According to the latest estimates Sri Lanka has a population of about 20 million. The ethnic division of the population is: Sinhalese 74% (this comminity is also anciently descended from a people indigenous to India -- largely Buddhist), Tamil 18% (a peopled ethnically related to the Tamils of southern India, including the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala -- which has a large Christian population), Moor 7% (descended from Arab Muslim immigrants from across the Indian Ocean), Burgher (a community descended, in part, from the Dutch colonists of long ago and inclusive of a synod of 30 Christian Reformed Churches and local missions, as well as of Burgher-descended Catholics), Malay, and Vedda 1%. Major languages in Sri Lanka are: Sinhala 74% (official and national), Tamil 18% (national), other 8%. English is commonly used in government and spoken competently by about 10% of people. Population density of Sri Lanka is 792 persons per square miles.

 Despite the history of conflict, Sri Lanka’s beaches, hill country, and archeological sites continue to attract thousands of visitors each year from around the world.  This is remarkable because the Asian Tsunami (December 26, 2004) caused severe damage and loss of life to several coastal areas of eastern, southern, and southwestern Sri Lanka but the affected areas and resorts have recovered. The capital city of Colombo has good tourist facilities.


-- Rewritten by refWr+t from IAPCHE's Contact newsletter (June,2k10)