The Exchange Programme in Environmental Studies invites visiting students into a living classroom where Tibetan Buddhist wisdom, monastic immersion, and ecological awareness meet.
Within four to ten months, learners engage in Tibetan language, debate foundations, meditation training, rituals, art, philosophy, community service, and optional retreat modules. While the curriculum remains the standard Exchange structure, students explore each subject through an environmental lens.
They learn how interdependence, compassion, and mindfulness can inform ecological responsibility, and how monastic life offers a model for sustainable and conscious living. The programme provides a rare experience where environmental insight grows from culture, community, and contemplative practice rather than theory alone.
Learning Goals
Students develop a foundation in Tibetan Buddhism while understanding ecological responsibility through lived experience:
Build functional Tibetan language skills to engage with ecological vocabulary, rituals, and community life
Understand the roots of environmental ethics through Buddhist philosophy and Mahayana foundations
Practice meditation as a method to cultivate ecological awareness and emotional balance
Experience monastic routines that model sustainability, simplicity, and mindful consumption
Engage in community service that reflects environmental care and compassion
Recognize Tibetan art, symbols, and ritual objects as expressions of interdependence
Develop confidence participating in daily rituals, chanting, and foundational debate
Cultivate ecological Bodhicitta through direct cultural immersion
Program Duration & Study Format
The programme is intentionally flexible, allowing students to shape their path through selected topics.:
Duration: 4 to 10 months depending on the number of chosen topics
Credits: 24 to 36 credits variable
Campus only, with direct monastic immersion
Students choose among twenty topics including language, debate, ethics, meditation, rituals, translation, art, philosophy, and advanced retreat
Environmental understanding grows through observation, community work, and reflective practice embedded in each topic
Optional independent study with a mentor supports environmental research projects
Environmental Studies enters through research themes, elective choice, commentary focus, and field projects guided by faculty
Assessment & Advancement
Evaluation honors the experiential nature of the programme.
Language assessments through reading, chanting, and simple translation
Meditation journals emphasizing ecological awareness and emotional presence
Participation in debate practicum to strengthen reasoning and clarity
Community service reports reflecting responsibility and compassion
Short reflection essays linking Buddhist philosophy with environmental observation
Optional retreat report documenting contemplative insight into interdependence
Certificate of Completion awarded upon fulfilling selected topics
Who Should Apply
This path is ideal for students seeking experiential learning grounded in Dharma and ecological sensitivity:
International students exploring Tibetan Buddhism through cultural immersion
Environmental students seeking contemplative perspectives
Practitioners wishing to experience sustainable monastic life
Early-stage researchers in Buddhist environmental ethics
Anyone seeking a short yet transformative study abroad programme
Degree Requirements
Environmental Studies Major
Course Title
Duration
Description
Language & Literacy
EX101 – Tibetan Language Immersion (3 credits)
EX102 – Tibetan Reading & Script (2 credits)
2 months
1.5 months
Rapid Tibetan language acquisition through full immersion.
Reading simple texts and daily liturgy.
Logic & Debate
EX111 – Introduction to Logic & Debate (3 credits)
EX112 – Debate Practicum for Internationals (2 credits)
2 months
1.5 months
Basic reasoning, debate posture, call-and-response.
Daily practice with simplified structures.
Monastic Ethics & Culture
EX121 – Monastic Ethics & Life (2 credits)
1.5 months
Introduction to monastic discipline and community living.
Meditation Foundations
EX131 – Meditation Foundations I (2 credits)
EX132 – Meditation Foundations II (2 credits)
1.5 months
1.5 months
Calm-abiding basics; mindfulness and posture.
Insight-based contemplations and emotional awareness.
Ritual & Chanting
EX141 – Ritual & Chanting Basics (2 credits
1.5 months
Learning daily chants, mudrā, offering practices.
Buddhist Philosophy
EX151 – Buddhist Philosophy Survey (3 credits)
EX152 – Mahāyāna Foundations (2 credits)
2 months
1.5 months
Overview of core Buddhist doctrines & tenet systems.
Bodhicitta, emptiness, six perfections.
Overview The Research Programme in Environmental Studies invites learners into a focused period of inquiry where Tibetan Buddhist wisdom and ecological awareness meet. Rather than studying from afar, students enter a living research environment guided directly by monastic scholars. Each learner designs an independent mini-project rooted in Buddhist philosophy, ritual culture, or contemplative practice as
