Aziza Sarmast launches Voices of Afghan Students Across the Open Society University Network (VASA-OSUN)

Bard College Berlin is excited to announce Voices of Afghan Students Across the Open Society University Network (VASA-OSUN), a new civic engagement project that reflects on and promotes the work of Afghan students across OSUN campuses. VASA-OSUN is led by Aziza Sarmast, a Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative (TSI) fellow at BCB. At the time of its launch, the blog includes coverage of events like the Afghan Students Conference, and a collection of personal narratives entitled “The Journey We Are Forced To Take,” in which 12 Afghan scholars tell the story of their evacuation from Afghanistan.

“When I first became a TSI scholar, I wanted to find a way to create a bridge of communication for all Afghan students across the OSUN network, and to create a sense of community among them,” said Sarmast. “Understanding, cooperation, and sharing experiences always creates more coherence, movement, and transformation in the minds and ideas of young people. I would like to express my gratitude to OSUN and BCB for their cooperation and support of Afghan scholars at a difficult historical moment.” Before beginning her TSI Fellowship, Sarmast previously served as the manager in the engineering department at National Radio and Television of Afghanistan and homeschooled women and girls during the Taliban rule in Afghanistan between 1997 to 2000. 

In addition to Sarmast, several current Bard College Berlin students are contributing their talents to VASA-OSUN. They include Attila Noyan ‘24, Omer Fallah Sarmast ‘26, Sultana Taib ‘24, and Aisha Khurram ‘24. Students interested in participating should reach out via the blog’s About Us page. 

This is a project within the Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative, which is sponsored by the Open Society University Network. OSUN integrates learning and knowledge creation–in the social sciences, the humanities, the sciences and the arts, on undergraduate and graduate levels–across geographic and demographic boundaries. Established by Bard College and Central European University, OSUN consists of 45 member institutions across five continents.

To visit the VASA-OSUN site, click here.

Post Date: 02-03-2023