Comparative advantages of the BRAC School

Location in a developing country providing a 'social laboratory' for teaching and learning.

Placement in a development organization - BRAC - with a track record of accomplishment in promoting social goals of poverty alleviation, which bridges the artificial divide between health and development. The School will build on the experience of BRAC in the provision of affordable health services to the poor. BRAC has an extensive health programme providing services throughout the country and a Research and Evaluation Division (established in 1975) that provide research support to BRAC.

Partnership with BRAC and other national institutions (such as Dhaka University), ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research and internationally recognized schools of public health including Amsterdam University (The Netherlands), Columbia University (USA), George Washington University (USA), Harvard University (USA), Johns Hopkins University (USA), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK), Umeå University (Sweden), and Uppsala University (Sweden). This arrangement enables access to the rich academic resources of these schools while orienting their teaching staff towards a more balanced global health agenda.

Emphasis on community-based experiential learning with the first six months conducted in a rural setting with field exercises illustrating public health in practice. In consultation with BRAC staff and community residents, students apply hands-on learning techniques during the course of their studies in Savar, one of BRAC's rural training centres. During the second half of the academic year the students spend time in Dhaka, based at ICDDR,B, focusing part of their field activities on urban slum settlements. Savar exposes students to the daily realities of life in rural communities of a developing country. This natural extension of the learning environment has become an integral feature of the student body and the School.