November 1, 1999 Volume II,
Issue 5
In this issue...
As the November News Briefs went to press...
• The 1999 Request For Proposals (RFP) of Institutional Partnerships in
Higher Education for International Development yielded 22 awardee projects
(see story). See http://www.aascu.org/alo/IP/proposals.htm for brief summaries.
• Six of the partnerships are sponsored through President Clinton’s Education for Democracy and Development Initiative, through USAID’s Bureau for Africa and other federal agencies.•
The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) announced over $2 million in awards under its 1999 Institutional Partnerships competition. Twenty-one lead colleges and universities received awards for 22 projects with colleges and universities in U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-assisted countries.
The winning institutions and project partner countries are as follows: American University (Colombia), Case Western Reserve University (Laos), Cleveland State University (Zambia), Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (South Africa), Furman University (Jamaica), Haskell Indian Nations University (Russia), Highline Community College (Namibia), Houston Community College System (India), Howard University (South Africa and Kenya), Indiana University (Nepal), Middle Tennessee State University (South Africa), National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (Latin America), Ohio State University (Uganda), State University of New York-Cortland (Kenya), Tiffin University (Romania), University of California-Davis (Nicaragua; Uzbekistan), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Indonesia), University of Massachusetts-Boston (Senegal), University of South Carolina (Philippines), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Malawi), and Washington University (Nepal).
In mid-April, ALO issued the RFP as the second peer-reviewed competition for grants under the Cooperative Agreement between USAID and the American Council on Education with five higher education associations: the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. The seed-grants are for up to $100,000 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/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.
1999 winners join 26 winners from the 1998 competition: Cornell/Purdue Universities (Honduras), Daytona Beach Community College (Mexico), Duke University and the Organization of Tropical Studies (Peru), Highline Community College (South Africa), Howard University (South Africa), Kapi’olani Community College (Sri Lanka), Kent State University-Trumbull Campus (Uzbekistan), Kirkwood Community College (Mexico), Langston University (Ethiopia), Middlesex Community College (Ethiopia), Mississippi Consortium for International Development (Angola), Ohio State University (Mexico), Oregon State University (South Africa), Paradise Valley Community College (Mexico), Prince George’s Community College (South Africa), Purdue/University of Maryland (Russia), San Diego Community College District (Mexico), St. Louis Community College (Guyana), State University of New York-Morrisville (Mexico), University of California at Los Angeles (Peru), University of Florida (Nicaragua), University of Georgia (Mexico), University of Maryland-Eastern Shore (Ghana), University of Washington (Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia), Virginia State University (Eritrea).
For brief summaries about the partnerships and further information about ALO, see the ALO Web site at http://www.aascu.org/alo.•
The
first annual meeting of Institutional and Workforce Development partners provided
time and a venue for work on partnerships and synergy between partnerships.
The first annual meeting of the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development’s (ALO) Institutional and Workforce Development partners, Higher Education and USAID: Synergy in Development 1999, brought together 117 representatives from 14 countries, representing partnerships with over 26 U.S. colleges, universities, and community colleges.
The conference, held August 31 to September 3 in Washington, DC, allowed recipients of 1998 partnership awards from ALO to share results of their projects and lessons learned, and to develop networks to enhance performance. Joining the partners were representatives from government, business, and other organizations, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), National Science Foundation, World Bank, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chronicle of Higher Education, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
Countries represented at the conference included Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United States, and Uzbekistan.
Panels included sessions on partnering with USAID, communicating results of higher education partnerships, and the power of leveraging expertise and resources.
At
a project panel session, the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and the
University of Cape Coast in Ghana described how they assessed arts and crafts
programs, which help the tourism industry and the economy. Carving this
stool took a master craftsperson five days; the partners suggested time-saving
and cheaper methods, such as having a less-skilled person do the gross carving.
In her welcome, Dr. Emily Vargas-Baron, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Center for Human Capacity Development, Bureau for Global Programs at USAID, remarked that “the future productivity and competitiveness of nations in the developing world will depend upon strengthening human capacity development through education and training.” Dr. Hiram Larew, Director of International Programs, Science and Education Research, Cooperative Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, described ALO’s higher education partnerships as “engines of reform.”•
As
part of the Knowledge Exchange and Learning Partnerships (KELP) design process,
a working group met in Washington, DC on September 20-22, 1999 to articulate
its vision of KELP and organize a structure to oversee its work.
KELP, a USAID Bureau for Africa, Office of Sustainable Development (AFR/SD) inter-sectoral initiative, works to “network networks” to increase the leadership role of African post-secondary institutions in sustainable development.
African leaders in attendance included representatives from the Initiative for the Development of Equity in African Agriculture, University of Zimbabwe, University of Pretoria, University of Botswana, the Association of African Universities (AAU); Tjama Tjivikua, President, Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) and Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia; and Benilde Vieira, alternate for Lidia Brito, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, University of Eduardo Mondlane.
After the three-day meeting, each of the leaders visited several U.S. institutions to see how they are integrating and using instructional technology in various subject areas and to explore long-term strategic partnerships, particularly online collaboration and joint teaching online. Among the institutions visited were: University of Washington, Oregon State University, Washington State University, Highline Community College, Maricopa Community Colleges, Spokane Community Colleges, University of Florida, Syracuse University, University of Delaware, Harvard University, Michigan State University, Georgia State University, University of Maryland-College Park, and Cornell University. See http://www.kelp.org/kpartinst.htm for a list of contact names at each U.S. institution.•
International
Higher Education Linkages Project Database 
The
International Higher Education Linkages Project (IHELP) database at http://www.aascu.org/alo/ihelp/
just got a new look and some new search capabilities that make it easier
to list and find higher education partnership projects. A project of the
Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation (ALO) under a cooperative
agreement with USAID, the database, which has been active since August 1998,
contains almost 3,500 records from over 90 institutions. It contains information
on program areas, cooperating institutions, contact information for the
U.S. institutions, and project outcomes. It is searchable by area of emphasis,
region, and country. Users can browse the data in order of world region,
state, country of affiliation, U.S. institution, or by overseas institutions.
Why IHELP? Stakeholders use the database in different ways. Developing country institutions use IHELP to find U.S. higher education institutions working in their countries on relevant projects. USAID/Washington uses IHELP to identify expertise in development sectors and countries; USAID missions use it to identify higher education partners working in particular countries and to guide host country institutions who are seeking partners. Higher education associations use IHELP to guide U.S. and foreign visitors looking for partner institutions.
Using IHELP U.S. institutions are encouraged to submit data, and USAID and other organizations are welcome to search the database. For questions regarding the database, contact Jennifer Munro at ALO at (202) 478-4700 or munroj@aascu.org.•
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Novgorod
State University representatives learn about environmental sciences education
at Purdue University.
Seven decades of central governance and progressive environmental decay have left Russian agricultural production in crisis. Today, Russian and U.S. researchers are working together to address and reform political policy and environmental quality. With an Institutional Partnership grant from the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) through a cooperative agreement USAID, Purdue University, the University of Maryland (UMD), and Novgorod State University (NovSU) are developing a model graduate and undergraduate environmental sciences and policy curriculum, designed to help address evolving environmental needs in Russia, in line with the USAID/Russia mission strategic objective in environmental management.
This project provides short-term training in the U.S. for key Russian environmental scientists and educators, who return home to work with their colleagues to evaluate and revise existing course offerings and to create additional courses in the area of environmental sciences and policy. The program introduces U.S. and Russian educators to an array of complex environmental issues and sustainable development projects. The partners are creating an Internet linkage to permit networking of U.S. and Russian students collaborating on joint assignments. Eventually, they will build the capacity to use the Web to link U.S. and Russian environmental scientists, educators, and students to disseminate project outcomes and to ensure continued cooperation and dialogue.
Two NovSU scientists were at the University of Maryland in October, working on the distance learning component of the project. Two of their colleagues spent three weeks at Purdue, examining how classroom teaching and laboratory exercises are integrated into the curriculum. Activities included hands-on experience working with sophisticated laboratory equipment commonly used by American students in lab classes. The laboratory work done by the NovSU scientists was both practical and important for another reason: They had an opportunity to analyze tapwater samples from the city of Novgorod.
Purdue and NovSU had previously worked together on student exchanges for three years. The present enhanced partnership is expanding the cooperative activities into the realm of institution building. In a letter of support, Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana said he believes the project will make a “significant contribution” toward addressing the “important environment issues that Russia now faces.”
The ALO grant of $99,734 will be complemented by approximately $157,746 from Purdue University, $53,736 from University of Maryland, and $12,424 from and Novgorod State University. The total estimated cost of this institutional partnership is $323,640. 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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