Tushita’s Annual Report 2016

December 2016

Who are Tushita’s Students?
We’ve been keeping records of the demographics of our residential students since 2009, so please rejoice in some pretty amazing statistics!

In the 8-year period 2009 – 2016:

• We had 11,463 residential students, from 94 countries
• Their age range was between 16 and 81
• We also had 71,302 attendees on our Non-Residential Courses and Drop-In Sessions

Since 2009 we have been offering 3 different Dharma activities at the same time!

Introduction to Buddhism Courses (residential)

For many decades introducing new students to the Dharma was our main function, and our very popular Introduction to Buddhism course used to be the emphasis of our programme. They are still hugely popular with the highest student numbers and long waiting list all year around. We had an average of 95 students per course in 2016, up from 80 from the previous year!

Intermediate / Advanced Courses and Group Retreats (all residential)

Many students after having done an introductory course would like to deepen their studies and practice. To fulfill this growing demand we started to offer intermediate and advanced courses and group retreats on a regular basis in 2009. They have been hugely successful, with students coming back again and again and courses often booked out many months in advance.

As you can see we hosted a total of 29 residential courses & group retreats in 2016 with a total attendance of 1963 students! Our average number of students in our Intro courses jumped significantly from 80 students per course last year to a whopping 95! We are so thrilled to host so many students meeting the teachings of Buddha in this way.

This year we had a surge in residential course participants compared to previous years as seen in the above figure. We rejoice in being able to offer Dharma teachings to so many!

Drop-In Activities (daily guided meditation sessions, video days, pujas etc.)

Since 2010 we have been offering our daily guided meditation sessions all season and they are so popular that we often have to squeeze people tightly into our gompa. This year we had 21,302 “cushion units” in our morning meditation sessions. That’s to say that the same people often attend these sessions frequently, so it wouldn’t be accurate to say that this many individuals had attended. However, no matter how you interpret the figures, our drop-in sessions were definitely well attended!

On top of all this we had many of our precious lamas visiting, giving teachings and advice, consecrating statues and more. Please have a look at our  July 2016 Newsletter for some truly inspirational reading!

Who are the people who come to Tushita courses?

How old are the students in Tushita’s courses (2016)?

Each year we are happy to accommodate a broad range of students of various ages. In 2016 our students spanned 57 years from 18 to 75 years of age.

Our Introduction to Buddhism courses have a predominance of students in their 20’s as you can see from the graph below. However, it also shows representation throughout each age group, bringing a valued diversity of experience to each course. Year after year we have almost the same breakdown of ages as we did this year:  60% of students are 18 – 30, 27% aged between 31 – 40, and 13% over 40.

While the majority of students in Introductory courses are under 30, in our Intermediate courses there is a much more balanced spread of ages, though the ranges (from youngest to oldest) are very similar. This is evidenced in the graph below showing the age range of Intermediate course students (green) against that of the Introductory course students (red).

How many Men & Women take part in our courses (2016)?

This year we had a majority of Women (56%) compared to Men (44%) as seen below in Figure 1.

While this has been the case since we began collecting data in 2009, we have witnessed a trend toward greater balance each year. This year was an exception with a greater contrast between the genders. See Figure 2.

The graph below depicts the breakdown of gender by course types in 2016. Females attended each course type in greater numbers than males this year.

Where are Tushita’s Students from?

Between 2009 – 2016, we had students on our residential courses from 94 different countries!

In “Table A” you can see a list of the top ten nationalities represented by our students in 2016. India maintained it’s position after breaking through to #1 in 2015, and Brazil has beat out the Netherlands for a spot in the Top Ten.

This year we were happy to welcome two students from Bolivia for the first time since we began records in 2009. If you would like to see the full list of 95 countries, please click here. See if your country is represented. If not: come, we need you!

The Netherlands have been present on our Top 10 list for almost every year since we began collecting this data in 2009. This year, however, they have been usurped by Brazil as one of our most represented countries. Brazil has steadily climbed the ranks to finally break through into the Top 10 this year. We are happy to welcome so many South Americans into our Tushita mix!

Figure 1 (below) shows these and more nationalities by percentage from our 2016 Residential Courses.

Participation among Indian citizens has increased more than 7 times in 8 years – from 60 students in 2009 to 439 students in 2016!

We rejoice – returning Buddha Dharma to the Motherland!

Full list of countries in 2016

#	Native Country of Residential Students	2016	%
1	India	439	22.36
2	Israel	387	19.71
3	USA	177	9.02
4	UK	116	5.91
5	Germany	109	5.55
6	Australia	75	3.82
7	France	74	3.77
8	Canada	67	3.41
9	Spain	38	1.94
10	Brazil	33	1.68
11	Italy	32	1.63
12	Netherlands	30	1.53
13	Sweden	29	1.48
14	Russia	27	1.38
15	Argentina	25	1.27
16	Mexico	23	1.17
17	Chile	21	1.07
18	Ireland	20	1.02
19	Austria	19	0.97
20	Poland	18	0.92
21	New Zealand	16	0.82
22	Finland	14	0.71
23	South Africa	14	0.71
24	Switzerland	13	0.66
25	Belgium	13	0.66
26	Colombia	13	0.66
27	Portugal	11	0.56
28	South Korea	9	0.46
29	Denmark	6	0.31
30	Turkey	6	0.31
31	Ukraine	6	0.31
32	Romania	5	0.25
33	Norway	5	0.25
34	Bulgaria	5	0.25
35	Croatia	5	0.25
36	Japan	4	0.20
37	Estonia	4	0.20
38	Costa Rica	4	0.20
39	Vietnam	3	0.15
40	Czech Republic	3	0.15
41	Hungary	3	0.15
42	Lithuania	3	0.15
43	Slovakia	3	0.15
44	Iran	3	0.15
45	Slovenia	3	0.15
46	Malaysia	3	0.15
47	Kazakhstan	3	0.15
48	Lebanon	3	0.15
49	Mauritius	2	0.10
50	Latvia	2	0.10
51	Uruguay	2	0.10
52	Greece	2	0.10
53	Iceland	2	0.10
54	Bolivia	2	0.10
55	Singapore	1	0.05
56	China	1	0.05
57	Tibet	1	0.05
58	Serbia	1	0.05
59	Thailand	1	0.05
60	Philippines	1	0.05
61	Jordan	1	0.05
62	Kyrgyzstan	1	0.05
63	Sri Lanka	1	0.05
	Total	1963	100.00

All 94 countries that have participated in Residential Courses 2009-16

#	Native Country of Residential Students	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2009-2016	% From 2009-2016
1	Israel	166	151	233	230	260	245	251	387	1923	16.73
2	India	60	94	106	142	202	228	325	439	1596	13.89
3	USA	178	201	200	165	175	142	180	177	1418	12.34
4	UK	129	103	145	103	100	81	103	116	880	7.66
5	Germany	82	79	73	85	79	71	100	109	678	5.90
6	Canada	59	95	67	73	69	54	69	67	553	4.81
7	Australia	81	74	81	77	49	44	57	75	538	4.68
8	France	25	44	68	63	67	76	48	74	465	4.05
9	Spain	25	35	33	35	38	27	35	38	266	2.31
10	Netherlands	40	24	32	42	22	23	36	30	249	2.17
11	Sweden	13	25	26	35	34	18	16	29	196	1.71
12	Brazil	10	18	15	25	15	26	24	33	166	1.44
13	Austria	12	18	27	31	16	10	25	19	158	1.37
14	Italy	14	16	14	17	22	13	23	32	151	1.31
15	Mexico	17	21	19	24	14	10	9	23	137	1.19
16	Switzerland	15	26	14	28	15	15	8	13	134	1.17
17	Ireland	19	16	22	16	14	15	10	20	132	1.15
18	Russia	8	2	7	9	26	26	26	27	131	1.14
19	Argentina	7	8	14	17	14	19	20	25	124	1.08
20	New Zealand	18	20	12	6	11	8	11	16	102	0.89
21	Belgium	11	9	9	17	9	16	18	13	102	0.89
22	Poland	6	9	9	9	10	19	11	18	91	0.79
23	Finland	14	6	18	9	11	6	9	14	87	0.76
24	Denmark	15	10	16	13	10	8	7	6	85	0.74
25	Chile	1	10	12	3	12	8	13	21	80	0.70
26	South Korea	9	7	12	20	12	6	3	9	78	0.68
27	South Africa	9	4	5	7	12	9	14	14	74	0.64
28	Colombia	2	8	7	7	7	13	13	13	70	0.61
29	Portugal	6	1	15	9	15	3	6	11	66	0.57
30	Japan	11	6	11	8	11	4	5	4	60	0.52
31	Slovenia	5	1	2	8	4	9	9	3	41	0.36
32	Taiwan	4	16	1	3	7	3	6	0	40	0.35
33	Turkey	3	6	5	5	2	6	5	6	38	0.33
34	Czech Republic	4	2	7	6	5	7	3	3	37	0.32
35	Singapore	2	10	7	7	1	1	7	1	36	0.31
36	Ukraine	2	5	3	3	6	7	2	6	34	0.30
37	Norway	2	5	2	8	6	2	3	5	33	0.29
38	Romania	1	3	2	2	5	6	5	5	29	0.25
39	Hungary	2	6	2	3	4	6	3	3	29	0.25
40	Estonia	5	1	10	2	1	1	2	4	26	0.23
41	Slovakia	3	7	5	0	0	5	3	3	26	0.23
42	Greece	5	4	1	3	1	5	3	2	24	0.21
43	China	1	2	3	4	5	4	4	1	24	0.21
44	Tibet	3	5	4	0	6	1	2	1	22	0.19
45	Malaysia	1	8	1	4	0	1	3	3	21	0.18
46	Vietnam	6	0	1	3	3	3	0	3	19	0.17
47	Lithuania	1	0	2	5	0	2	4	3	17	0.15
48	Thailand	0	1	5	0	2	2	6	1	17	0.15
49	Indonesia	0	5	10	0	0	1	1	0	17	0.15
50	Bulgaria	0	0	2	0	3	2	3	5	15	0.13
51	Latvia	1	1	5	2	1	1	0	2	13	0.11
52	Mauritius	0	2	1	1	1	3	1	2	11	0.10
53	Iran	0	1	3	0	0	0	2	3	9	0.08
54	Malta	1	0	2	1	1	2	1	0	8	0.07
55	Venezuela	1	1	1	1	0	3	0	0	7	0.06
56	Belarus	0	0	1	1	2	1	2	0	7	0.06
57	Luxembourg	4	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	7	0.06
58	Croatia	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	6	0.05
59	Costa Rica	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	5	0.04
60	Uruguay	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	5	0.04
61	Iceland	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	5	0.04
62	Philippines	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	1	5	0.04
63	Peru	0	2	0	1	0	1	1	0	5	0.04
64	Nepal	1	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	5	0.04
65	Ecuador	0	0	1	3	0	0	1	0	5	0.04
66	Kazakhstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0.03
67	Lebanon	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	4	0.03
68	Cyprus	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0.03
69	Egypt	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	4	0.03
70	Jordan	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	3	0.03
71	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	0.03
72	Morocco	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	0.03
73	Bolivia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0.02
74	Serbia	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0.02
75	Sri Lanka	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0.02
76	Guatemala	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0.02
77	Oman	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	0.02
78	Botswana	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0.02
79	Georgia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.02
80	Jamaica	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.02
81	Mongolia	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0.02
82	Moldova	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0.01
83	Algeria	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.01
84	Bhutan	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
85	Cambodia	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.01
86	Myanmar	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
87	Nicaragua	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
88	Palestine	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
89	Panama	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
90	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
91	Syria	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
92	Uganda	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
93	Zimbabwe	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.01
94	Yemen	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0.01
	Total	1122	1243	1423	1411	1424	1340	1568	1963	11494	100.00