Parami students’ global footprint across 10 countries

Parami students’ global footprint

A university education extends beyond the classroom. Meeting people from different backgrounds, encountering new ideas, and experiencing different communities can be just as meaningful as academic learning.

For students at an online university like Parami, these opportunities are especially valuable. Global exposure is not simply about traveling abroad. It is about connecting with people, engaging with new perspectives, experiencing different communities, and seeing how classroom learning connects to the wider world.

Over the past four years, 127 Parami students across cohorts have taken part in 18 international learning trips across 10 countries. These experiences have included internships in the United States; cross-cultural exchange programs in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand; youth leadership conferences in Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Colombia, and Bangladesh; and international programs in Kenya. Parami University organizes some programs, while others are offered by GHEA21, a partner organization of the university.

For many students, these experiences offered lessons that a classroom could not fully capture. By meeting people from different backgrounds, experiencing unfamiliar environments, and engaging directly with communities and organizations, students connected academic ideas with real-world experiences and gained perspectives they might not have encountered through coursework alone.

Seeing beyond the classroom

Global exposure gives students opportunities to challenge assumptions, encounter different perspectives, and discover possibilities beyond familiar surroundings.

Lu Htoi (Class of 2028) sees international experiences as a way for students to discover their potential.

“Students may have great potential but may not have enough opportunities to explore and discover it.”

Lu Htoi explained.

For Khu David Ta Keh (Class of 2027), meeting Parami peers and people from different backgrounds in person strengthened his sense of connection.

“At an online university like Parami University, global exposure is crucial for students to move beyond learning about the world in the classroom to actually engaging with people, communities, and ideas from different backgrounds," Khu David reflected.

These experiences can also reveal realities that textbooks alone cannot convey.

For Phyo Thiha Aung (Class of 2027), participating in the Get Engaged Conference demonstrated what global exposure can mean for a student at a synchronous online university. “As a student from Parami with a synchronous online learning platform, I believe that this global exposure, such as the Get Engaged Conference, exceeds the expectations of having an exchange student life abroad. This is truly an inspiring and tremendous opportunity for me to join the conference as a student representing Myanmar.”

Phyo Thiha described the experience as an inspiring opportunity to represent Myanmar.

His experience reflects a broader reality: studying online does not mean being disconnected from the world. International learning opportunities allow students to meet people, exchange perspectives, and learn beyond the virtual classroom.

Learning through lived experience

During the Dwight Clark Cross-Cultural Program in Japan, Lu Htoi experienced something she had previously encountered only as an academic concept: what it feels like to live in a safe and peaceful environment.

“I had learned about the importance of safety and peace in the classroom through lectures or reading. But I had never truly felt it in my daily life, Lu Htoi recalled.

Being able to walk around without constantly feeling afraid made her reflect on the difference between understanding safety intellectually and experiencing it firsthand. The experience also led her to reflect on how conflict at home had changed the way she experienced even the natural environment.

Khu David encountered another form of learning through the Japanese concept of Ibasho—a place where people feel a sense of belonging and can be themselves. Through conversations and visits, he began thinking more deeply about how communities create belonging and how it can influence creativity, confidence, and hope.

“These were insights that I could understand much more deeply through experiencing and discussing them with people in Japan than I could have learned from a classroom reading alone," Khu David noted.

Khin Thazin Soe (Class of 2029) found similarly meaningful lessons during a field visit to the Sunlight Xiaolin Community in Taiwan as part of the Taiwan Summer Program.

Learning how the community worked to preserve its culture and identity after Typhoon Morakot destroyed Xiaolin Village in 2009 showed her the importance of collective action, resilience, and shared responsibility. It also encouraged her to reflect on communities facing challenges in her own country.

“This learning is special to me because I could hear and learn their stories directly from the Sunlight Xiaolin Community themselves," Khin Thazin Soe shared.

From learning to action

Global experiences can also help students turn ideas into action. Beyond connecting with people from different backgrounds, these opportunities can build confidence, leadership skills, and a stronger sense of purpose.

Jue Jue (Class of 2028) described how participating in the Get Engaged global community strengthened her sense of belonging while giving her practical experience in youth leadership.

“Once a migrant worker, now being part of the Get Engaged global community gives me a sense of belonging and trains me to lead a youth-initiative project—from the ideation stage to the action plan, and from individual start-up to the team-building stage.”

Jue Jue described how the experience shaped her sense of belonging and leadership.

Khu David connected what he studied about political, social, and economic structures with what he observed in Japanese communities and organizations, seeing how resilience, community, and social change are lived beyond the classroom.

For Khin Thazin Soe, the Taiwan Summer Program showed how learning at Parami can shape real relationships. Through conversations with Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and Filipino friends, she learned how sharing stories and perspectives can build trust and reduce misunderstandings across communities.

“This experience helped me understand that what I learn at Parami is not simply theoretical knowledge. It has become part of my values and the way I look at the world.”

Khin Thazin Soe reflected on how the experience connected her academic learning with her personal values.

Growing through challenge

Global exposure is not always comfortable.

For Lu Htoi, speaking and presenting in person was more challenging than doing so online. Her heart would race when she prepared to ask questions, but she pushed herself to participate. When she had to present a civic engagement project, she prepared extensively and eventually succeeded.

“I learned that I can face challenges by preparing well and pushing myself to do things even when I feel nervous," Lu Htoi reflected on the confidence she gained from pushing through those challenges.

These experiences demonstrate what global learning can offer beyond academic knowledge: opportunities to build confidence, question assumptions, understand different perspectives, develop leadership skills, and strengthen connections across cultures.

For Parami students, leaving their global footprints is therefore not simply about the countries they visit. It is about what they bring home—the stories they hear, the perspectives they gain, the questions they begin to ask, and the ways they see their own communities differently.

Explore the global footprint of Parami students: parami.edu.mm/global-footprint