North South University (NSU), representing Bangladesh has won the title of ‘Best Delegation’ in the New York Global Young Leaders Summit International Model United Nations (NY-GYLS Int’l MUN). At a time of distress and calamity for the country, this comes as a welcome news not only for the university but for the whole youth body of Bangladesh.
The summit ‘NY-GYLS Int’l MUN’ was the first and unique youth summit in US and it gathered students from all five continents and offered them a higher-level atrium of confrontation and debate between culturally-diverse leaders, with the UN building as backdrop. The summit took place from March 26 to March 29, 2013.
Over 600 students representing the most prestigious universities of the world from 64 countries met to discuss and gave their concrete contribution to the hottest issues discussed daily by the world leaders, drafted official UN documents and created an inter-sectorial arena of dialogue, negotiation and best practices sharing.
It was a commendable exploit by the Bangladeshi students especially from North South University who won the ‘Best Delegation Award’ from a pool of extraordinary candidates from all over the world. They had won honourable mentions in all committees (with the exception of the Security Council of which Bangladesh was not a part of). And in the end, they had won the big one – the most prestigious award. The delegation from NSU comprised of Zunayeed Noor Alam, Ahnaf Tahmid, Zayan Fida Noor, Shabab Golam Rahman, Sabbir Hossain, Towkir Islam Khan, Samaan Rishad, Fakhorus Salehin Nahian, Syed Imamuzzaman, Mamunur Rashid, Nudrat
Fariah, Tasnuva Maliha, Seefat Rafique, Rezaul Karim and Saiful Imam. Apart from NSU, several other institutions from Bangladesh participated in the summit e.g. Jahangirnagar University (represented by Shaikh Siraj), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (represented by Tani Deepavali Nawaz) and others. Furthermore, University of Warwick from UK and several Ivy League schools from USA were in the summit as well.
“These kinds of youth conferences are extremely fruitful opportunities for the country’s youth to present their potential to the
world. However, financing becomes the barrier in most of the cases. For instance, NSU was completely self-funded. No institution sponsored our endeavour and for some of us, it was very difficult to afford,” said Zunayeed Noor Alam – the Delegation Advisor of the NSU Delegation from Bangladesh to NY. He further asserted, “Getting visa was the biggest challenge. But we are grateful to the American Embassy Councillor Section for their support. Even with the hurdles and obstacles we faced, we think the reward and the prestige of the outcome outweigh all the negatives.” “I think Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as respective
Universities should have special funds for student attending MUNs abroad,” he added.
In a time of strife and unrest, it serves as somewhat of a poetic justice for Bangladeshi youths to have brought such glory for the country; more so for North South University, in light of recent events and also the fact that they brought home such a prestigious title from no other city but New York. The delegates are optimistic and look forward to a brighter Bangladesh and cast positive light on their parent institution. The delegation advisor of North South University, Zunayeed N Alam mentioned, “This was the largest student delegation to USA in the US-Bangladesh history.” Upon winning the title under the name of
North South University, Zunayeed exclaimed, “We created history!” and it will indeed be recorded in the annals as a glorious feat by the Bangladeshi youth.
News by Adnan Firoze [Newspaper Link!]
