July 31, 1998 Volume 1, Issue 2
(Updated August 13)
While remaining part of the American Council on Education (ACE), ALO will have a new address, phone number, e-mail address and Web site location.
ALO is moving with the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). AASCU has housed ALO since its establishment in 1992. The newly renovated building will allow the ALO team to work in closer proximity and provide high-technology meeting spaces.
The International Higher Education Linkages Database, linked from the Association Liaison Office (ALO) for University Cooperation in Development site, will answer these questions and more after it debuts on-line as early as August 15.
"It will be a valuable resource to folks on campuses in this country and overseas, as well as to USAID Missions," said Dr. Hiram Larew, a science and technology policy liaison to higher education at USAID.
The database was developed under a cooperative agreement between ALO, on behalf of six higher education associations, and USAID. NASULGC and the University of Maryland at College Park are collaborating on the start-up of the database. The database currently contains records from NASULGC institutions and will grow as members of the other higher education associations contribute their information.
For information on listing your institution, see the Web site and click "Request to Add a New Institution."
In Baja California Sur, there is an abundance of gorgeous beaches and beautiful vistas. Opportunities for the hospitality industry should abound and provide a boon to the poverty-stricken area in Mexico. Without trained staff, however, the industry will not flourish.
This disconnect is being addressed by U.S. and Mexican higher education. Through the Association Liaison Office (ALO) for University Cooperation in Development, Maricopa Community College District (MCCD) in Arizona teamed with the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur (UABCS) to fill workforce training needs in the Mexican regions of Los Cabos and La Paz. With funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), ALO provides seed money to U.S. higher education institutions for global development cooperation.
"The goal is to empower communities so that they can sustain development and not draw forever on USAID resources," said Dr. Bertha Landrum, Director of Business and Workforce Development at MCCD. Over 90% of U.S. community colleges are currently involved in workforce training for business and industry. Likewise, MCCD has experience in local economic development through workforce training, and the first step toward solving the Mexican challenges was reviewing successes within the Arizona system.
During a period of fifteen months, MCCD shared its expertise with UABCS through several meetings and workshops. One effort involved a meeting with MCCD, UABCS, the City of Scottsdale Director of Tourism, and the Hyatt Hotels training coordinator. The groups discussed how they established links between industry/government/education to address the shortages of people prepared to work in their industry.
Dr. Landrum said it is critical for representatives from the developing countries to come to the U.S. "so that they can visualize what it can be, can reinterpret what they see, hear and touch in terms of their own culture for development."
The long-term effects of the linkage are not yet evident, but MCCD has already helped UABCS begin to plan its own skills center with basic courses in hospitality, including English for tourism, security, customer service, and health skills. UABCS now has a strategy for designing and developing the curriculum and creating job profiles to meet workforce demands. UABCS has also made a formal request to the Mexican government for approval to implement a degree in hospitality management.
Dr. David Pierce, President of the American Association of Community Colleges, said that community colleges are especially suited to workforce development linkages: "America's community colleges have decades of experience in fulfilling the needs of business and industry in the communities they serve. This expertise is priceless to colleges and universities in developing nations that have specific training requirements."
"We all take something to the table _ we all take a risk," said Dr. Landrum, "but when things go well, we all win."
She said that the project had enabled MCCD to learn how to use its colleges and community as an interactive laboratory for future international economic development endeavors.
Dr. Landrum also said that international projects help U.S. participants to "truly understand events and happenings on a global basis and come to see the systems operating worldwide and how to bring change to the mix."
Dr. Jerry Maranville, a researcher at the University of Nebraska, examines sorghum leaves. University research has led to improvements in agriculture worldwide. (Photo
courtesy of the University of Nebraska)
University research on grains such as sorghum and pearl millet impacts millions in the U.S. and in developing countries.
Sorghum is a food staple in developing countries, which produce about 69% of the world's supply, and is grown on about 110 million acres worldwide. The grain is primarily used for animal feed in the U.S., which produces 27% of the world's supply. Pearl millet is the staple cereal of 90 million people in developing countries, grown on almost 100 million acres worldwide.
Below are just some of the benefits of university research sorghum:
• Sorghum is fed to two-thirds of non-grazing cattle in the Southwest and one-third in the Midwest. Damage by greenbug to sorghum is estimated to cost U.S. producers $248 million annually. Economic gains to the U.S. from greenbug-resistant sorghum hybrids, developed by Texas A&M University and DeKalb Plant Genetics Corp. using sorghum germplasm from Russia, were $389 million in 1991.
Subsequently, resistance to the most recent greenbug biotype threat, biotype I, was found by International Sorghum and Millet (INTSORMIL) Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) researchers working with new introductions of sorghum germplasm from Russia at the University of Nebraska. INTSORMIL is one of nine CRSPs funded by USAID.
• Sorghum is the third most important food produced in Central America after maize and beans. In Honduras, more than half of the sorghum produced in the mid-1980's came from small farms on steep hillsides with potential for soil erosion.
Texas A&M University, Mississippi State University, and a German aid program enhanced pest management and production practices (including sorghum varieties developed cooperatively the U.S. and other countries) and improved fertilizer, and soil conservation terraces. This increased farm net income by 15% through significantly increased crop yield while protecting sloped lands from erosion.
• Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plants, and fertilizers are often required as soil additives to maintain adequate levels. INTSORMIL plant physiologists are studying drought stress and nitrogen use efficiency to assist breeders in their efforts to develop better plant varieties. For example, University of Nebraska agronomists have estimated that a sorghum they developed with 25% greater nitrogen use efficiency results in a savings of $3.60 per acre in fertilizer costs without sacrificing yield. This translates to millions of dollars in savings to the sorghum industry and higher production in lower-input cropping systems in developing countries.
A farmer in Niger displays the healthy grain of his sorghum
crop. Purdue University contributed to a new line of sorghum well-adapted
to the African country's harsh climate. (Photo courtesy of the National Institute of Agronomic Research of Niger)
• In Niger, INTSORMIL/Purdue University and the National Agricultural Research Institute of Niger (INRAN) released a sorghum hybrid they developed after trials with varied irrigation and fertilizer conditions. Depending on management practices, the hybrid yields 50% more grain or better than the best local varieties.
• After years of research and breeding, the University of Nebraska developed an adaptation of proso millet, a crop species originating in South Asia, as a new crop for western Nebraska. Today, proso millet is grown on more than 200,000 acres in the area.
Developing world 30 years ago...
• 53% of the people were illiterate.
• The average woman had six children.
• Nearly 12 million infants died every year.
• Four out of 10 people suffered from malnutrition.
• Life expectancy was about 50.
• Four out of five developing countries were not democracies.
• Annual per capita income was about $700.
Today in the developing world...
• Literacy has risen almost 50%.
•The average woman now has three children.
• Infant mortality was cut 50%.
• The percentage of malnutrition has been cut more than 50%.
• Life expectancy rose more than a decade.
• 71 more nations have become "free" or "partly free."
• Per capita income has risen 60%.
Through a peer review process, ALO has made the preliminary selection of the Institutional Partnership competition awardees. Grants are pending USAID approval.
See subsequent issues of NEWS BRIEFS for stories on these partnerships, or check out the ALO Web site now for a list of selected partnerships and in mid-August for summaries of funded projects.
The Niger National Agricultural Research Institute (INRAN) is hosting a Hybrid Sorghum and Millet Seed Workshop in Niamey, Niger from September 28 through October 2. The workshop will bring together scientists, entrepreneurs, government and non-governmental organization representatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the U.S. for the development of the sorghum-and-millet hybrid seed industry in West Africa.
For information, contact Joan Frederick at the University of Nebraska at (402) 472-6032.
A University of Florida and Makerere University partnership was featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education July 3, 1998. The partnership established the Human Rights and Peace Center (HURIPEC) in Uganda in 1993 with $400,000 in funding from USAID's University Development Linkages Program. Dedicated in 1997, HURIPEC is the first research and academic-based institution in the East African region and is devoted to teaching, researching, and compiling local/regional materials related to human rights.
Registration is now open for the first ever Global Meeting of Generations, an international, inter-generational conference to be held January 13-15, 1999, in Washington, D.C. on the theme "Visions and Actions for Equitable Development in the 21st Century." Full information is available on the conference Web site and from the International Development Conference, 1875 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 720, Washington D.C. 20009-5728, phone (202) 884-8580 or by e-mail.
Iowa State University is offering several workshops in China and the Ukraine on Globalizing Agricultural Science and Education July through September 1998. For information, see the workshop Web site or contact Dr. David Acker by e-mail or phone (515) 294-9477.
The Center for Human Capacity Development at USAID is currently organizing three regional university development linkages conferences in early 1999 in the Latin America/Caribbean (LAC), Africa (AFR) and Africa and the Near East (ANE) regions. The LAC conference is scheduled for January 20-24 in Honduras. The AFR and the ANE conferences are planned for Ghana and Jordan, respectively, in February.
The deadline for the International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) Request for Proposals for the Sustaining Partnerships into the Next Century (SPAN) program is August 28, 1998.
IREX manages the program for USAID to strengthen partnerships between the U.S. and Russia. See the IREX Web site for details.
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 1998 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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