December 20, 1999 Volume
II, Issue 6
In this issue...
As the December News Briefs went to press...
• All 23 Institutional Partnerships for 1999 have been enacted and profiles
are now on-line. See http://www.aascu.org/alo/IP/proposals.htm.
• The 2000 Synergy in Development workshop will take place July 11-14 in Washington, DC. All 1998 and 1999 Workforce Development and Institutional Partnerships are expected to attend.•
The Association The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) announce almost $200,000 in awards under the 1999 "Building International Workforce Development Partnerships" competition.
Through an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), five U.S. community colleges will work in USAID-assisted countries to strengthen the capacities of cooperating country institutions to provide relevant marketable skills to the unemployed or underemployed. "We've been very pleased with the work of our colleges so far. We're looking forward to working with the new partnerships-they look very exciting," said Audree Chase, AACC Coordinator of International Programs.
She notes as an example Harford Community College's partnership with Moscow medical college, which addresses the great need for development in the nursing field in Russia. She said the project will enhance not only practical but also administrative aspects of nursing, such as doctors' perceptions of nursing and holistic approaches to medicine.
The winning institutions and project partner countries so far are as follows: Bronx Community College (South Africa), Colorado Community College and Occupational System (Brazil), Harford Community College (Russia), Riverside Community College District (Eritrea), and Springfield Technical Community College (South Africa).
The seed-grants are for up to $50,000 with a minimum requirement for matching funds of 25%. The collaborations address one or more of the six USAID goal areas: human capacity development, health, environment, economic development and agriculture, democracy and governance, and humanitarian assistance. Individual partnerships more specifically address one or more of the strategic objectives set by the USAID Missions in each target country.
The institutions join 11 Workforce Development partners from 1998: Daytona Beach Community College (Mexico), Highline Community College (South Africa), Kapi'olani Community College (Sri Lanka), Kent State University, Trumbull Campus (Uzbekistan), Kirkwood Community College (Mexico), Middlesex Community College (Ethiopia), Paradise Valley Community College (Mexico), Prince George's Community College (South Africa), San Diego Community College District (Mexico), St. Louis Community College (Guyana), SUNY of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville (Mexico). For brief summaries about the partnerships and further information about AACC, see the ALO Web site at http://www.aascu.org/alo/WD/aaccprop.htm.•
Women scientists in developing countries and countries in transition often have more difficulty obtaining resources to support their research. An Iowa State University program addresses these issues by bringing participants to universities and major laboratories in the United States to conduct research with U.S. colleagues and to utilize the resources of U.S. libraries and laboratories.
Women scientists in developing countries and countries in transition often have difficulty obtaining resources to support their research. Help from U.S. higher education institutions is making more resources available to underserved individuals.
In partnership with the Iowa State University (ISU) Program for Women in Science and Engineering, UNESCO's International Women in Science and Engineering (IWISE) program has worked with forty-three women scientists from Albania, Côte d'Ivoire, China, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, Panama, Romania, Russia, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, and Ukraine in the past three years. Project results include:
· Improved solar product technology for use by rural women through a new
Masters degree program in solar energy at the University of El Salvador.
· A female Nigerian computer scientist conducted a month-long workshop for
female high school teachers in the spring of 1997. These women are actively
helping bring Nigeria into the computer age.
· Agriculturalists from the Côte d'Ivoire work with an NGO, African Women
Leaders in Agriculture and the Environment, to encourage undergraduate women
to major in science and engineering.
· An agronomist from Tanzania, conducts research on the drought-resistant
characteristics of sorghum and the lablab bean. She follows up by teaching
farmers, 90% of whom are women, how to cultivate and prepare foods from
these crops.
· Teams of female scientists have established two new women in science organizations
in Ukraine. They developed a program of seminars in advanced computer techniques
that helped prepare women scientists to participate in projects with international
universities and firms.
"The program provided me a great opportunity to identify myself both in the scientific and leadership world," said a 1998 program participant. Application deadline for the 2000 Leadership Program is December 31, 1999. IWISE is a program of the International Institute of Theoretical and Applied Physics at Iowa State. For more information on IWISE, contact Dr. Mary Ann Evans at (515) 294-5883 or see the Web site at http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/iwise/. •
International
Higher Education Linkages Project Database SpotlightThe International Higher Education Linkages Project database (IHELP) contains information on international partnerships between higher education institutions and includes program areas, cooperating institutions, contact information for U.S. institutions, project outcomes, and more. For more partnerships or to list your institutional linkages, see http://www.aascu.org/alo/ihelp.
Lincoln University/ University of Malawi
Program Description: Improvement of child health via nutrition through improvement of livestock (goats). Linkage was under USAID's University Development Linkage Program (UDLP).
Program Outcome: Livestock improved with increased milk and meat production and with new milk and meat available, child health has been improved in test villages. The President of Malawi visited Jefferson City, Missouri and Lincoln University (LU) and spoke before public forums. LU gained 30 Malawian students and won two more projects in Malawi as a result of the project.
Linkage Type: Academic Exchange, Collaborative Research, Instruction/Training
Emphasis Areas: Human Capacity Development Funding Source: USAID •
The Global Technology Corps (GTC) is a public-private partnership that recruits high tech volunteers for short term projects worldwide. A program of the U.S. Information Agency, the GTC works with companies, individuals, and organizations who are willing to volunteer their time, expertise and resources to help spread the social and economic benefits of access to information technology.
A recent program was the Kosovar Refugee Internet Assistance Initiative, which supported the information and humanitarian needs of Kosovar refugees. By supporting activities that integrate computing technologies into the culture and character of local communities, GTC volunteers help build a future in which the global information network is not a luxury of the privileged but a widely-available resource.
Past and current partners include Apple Computer, Inc., Autometric, Inc., Canon Computer Systems, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., The Sarnoff Corporation, The Document Company Xerox, Gateway and the Waitt Family Foundation, and Hewlett-Packard. For more information on the Global Technology Corps, contact Timothy Bennett, Program Consultant via e-mail at tbennett@usia.gov, or phone 202-619-4233.•
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A South African woman rests after traveling a long distance to collect fuelwood for cooking. Oregon State University and the University of Fort Hare are working with local populations to better manage natural resources and plant new trees, which will result in a better environment and a higher standard of living for all.
The University of Fort Hare (UFH) in South Africa, alma mater of President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehele of Lesotho, has joined in an Institutional Partnership grant with Oregon State University (OSU) and Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry (FCC) to assist South Africa in meeting post-apartheid challenges for sustaining natural resources.
The grant from the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) through a cooperative agreement with USAID is strengthening the academic infrastructure in forestry in Southern Africa. The goal of the partnership is to increase the capacity of the South African partners to produce leaders and technology needed for the sustainable development of forests and other natural resources in South Africa.
Under apartheid, FCC's forestry focus was on training government-funded commercial forestry technicians, but with its new autonomy, the college will address such issues as construction and fuelwood shortages and entrepreneur-focused education that integrates social concerns with income generation. UFH has developed an internationally-recognized Faculty of Agriculture. UFH, now slated to be involved in a major forestry project funded by the South African government, will develop an agroforestry program under this initiative and has chosen FCC as a partner. OSU is helping the South African institutions meet the challenges of their new tasks by assisting in the development of their academic and scientific capacity and infrastructure.
The partners have made a follow-up proposal to USAID to implement some of the academic development needs identified during the course of the ALO Linkage Project. They are connecting with potential private sector partners to facilitate cooperative research, internships for UFH and FCC students, and outreach to landowners. The institutions informally partnered with a British-sponsored development project at FCC during year one and recently implemented and financed $50,000 of physical improvements to the forestry/horticulture facilities at FCC based on the recommendations and specifications of OSU's Dr. Robin Rose. Also, UFH Faculty of Agriculture assigned a team to work with OSU's Dr. Badege Bishaw to plan an undergraduate program in Agroforestry.
UFH Faculty of Agriculture endorsed the program, which has been submitted to UFH Academic Affairs for final approval. The same team is now working on developing a related research and postgraduate program under Badege's leadership. The partnership is strengthening the capacity of South African institutions to design and implement higher education, research, and outreach programs in agroforestry and community forestry; contribute to the internationalization of students, faculty, and curricula at all of the partner institutions; identify and use opportunities for student and faculty exchanges and for collaborative research and educational opportunities among partner institutions; and explore the needs and possibilities for additional (postgraduate) education at OSU for faculty members from South African institutions.
The ALO grant of $99,998 will be complemented by approximately $84,325 from OSU, $24,762 from UFH, and $21,880 from FCC. The total estimated cost of this institutional partnership is $230,965.
Watch for new developments on this story and others on the ALO Web site, http://www.aascu.org/alo.•
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Established in 1992, ALO coordinates the efforts of the nation's six major higher education associations to build their partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and to help their member institutions plan and implement development programs with colleges and universities abroad. Copyright 1999 by the Association Liaison Office. All rights reserved. Use of this publication in full or partial form is encouraged, but requires the permission of the publisher. Send comments, requests for addition to list, questions, and ideas for stories to ALO.
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