Feature

My experience at BNU

Musharrat A. Choudhury

BEACON HOUSE National University (BNU) is one of the most famous universities in Lahore, Pakistan. This university is only 6 years old but has already been able to get a good reputation in the country and its fame is spreading beyond the country as well. This young university has commenced with two departments: Visual Art and Liberal Art. However, it has launched some more departments in the past few years. BNU has got two campuses; one is in the city which is known as the city campus and the other is a little away from the city, and is known as Tarogil campus.

One of the remarkable aspects of BNU is their exchange student program from all SAARC countries. Every year BNU offers a full scholarship called “SAF Madanjeet Sing Art Scholarship”. This scholarship covers air ticket, accommodation, transportation from hostel to university, medical insurance and a handsome pocket money to two students from each SAARC (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) countries. I was one of the two students from Bangladesh to have received this scholarship.

The program also arranges for trips inside Pakistan for SARRC students. With the trip I went to Aptabad, Nathigali, Swat, Karachi, Islamabad, Mari, Multan, Bhawalpur, Rawal-pindi and many other places.

For this scholarship we, the Visual Arts students applied here in Dhaka with our visual portfolio and for the final selection we faced an interview. In the first year Ayesha Sultana and me (Musharrat A. Choudhury) obtained the nomination for this scholarship and went to BNU.

In the beginning the scholarship was for a year but later BNU continued the scholarship till graduation. First year is called Foundation Year, where students are exposed to different basic subjects like: Drawing, Sculpture, 2D Design, Technical Drawing, Art and Society and History of Art. From second year the students go to their chosen department. Altogether it is a four-year graduation course.

After the Foundation year I opted for Visual Communication Design (VCD) and Ayesha opted for the Fine Arts department. Study there was tough for me in the beginning. The diverse curriculum and language problem was the main complexity for me; I wasn't fluent in English and I didn't know how to use a computer and what a search engine was. Neither did I know how to write a research paper; I didn't know many such fundamentals! However with my sincere endeavour and willpower I improved quickly. I learnt from my teachers, friends, classmates, hostel warden, computer lab assistants and from everyone around me. I have met many people in Lahore and out of Lahore in Pakistan and have always got sincere cooperation and hospitality from them.

In the last semester (8th semester) in 4th year we had our thesis. Till 7th semester teachers give projects and assignments to the student. But for thesis, students have to come up with their own project and according to the project student writes project proposal with the justification of the project. Once the proposal is approved from teachers and the Dean, only then the student can start working further on their project and gradually they develop their final work.

Gradually I improved and my academic report developed. At the end of four years, I was able to grab the Gold Medal with Distinction marks in my graduation; I also received the Deans Award Certificate from my (VCD) department. Ayesha Sultana has got Distinction from her (Fine Arts) department. Our doing well was an enormous pleasure that added glory and honour to the name of our country .