U.S.-Middle East University Partnerships ProgramPerformance and Results for Eight Partnerships In cooperation with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) began to administer a new program, the U.S.-Middle East University Partnerships Program, in May 2003. The objectives of the program are to expand partnerships between U.S. and Arab universities and their economic and civil society partners, improve the quality of faculty instruction, student research, and materials available at Arab universities, and enhance Arab universities' administrative and managerial capacity. On September 16, 2003, Assistant Secretary Burns, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State, signed a memorandum approving funding under the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in the amount of $782,927 for eight university partnerships selected for awards. Performance and results for the eight partnerships are detailed below: BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 1) Plattsburgh State University of New York/Institut National de Commerce (Algeria) Enhancing Administrative, Teaching, and Scholarship Capacity of Higher Education in Business and Management in Algeria The partnership between Plattsburgh State University (PSU) of New York and the Institut National de Commerce (INC) will enhance the administrative, teaching, and scholarship capacity of higher education in business and management in Algeria. Following the execution of the subagreement between PSU and ACE/ALO on November 13, 2003, the PSU and INC partnership directors began the selection process for the three scholars who will travel to PSU in 2004. The selected INC faculty members then familiarized themselves with The State of New York University System through Internet research with the guidance of the partnership director. The INC partnership team also developed proposals for research collaboration and curriculum improvement. The PSU partnership director visited INC in late December and early January to review the proposals and plans in preparation for the three INC scholars' first trip to Plattsburgh, NY in late spring or early summer 2004. While in Algeria, the PSU partnership director met with the Director of Quality Improvement at the Ministry of Industry in Algiers to discuss one of the research proposals. Award Amount: $100,000 A U.S.-Oman Joint Initiative on Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Female Students in the Middle East The partnership between the University of Missouri-Rolla and Mazoon College will focus on the theory and practical application of ethical business management and finance in a program for female Omani students. Partners will establish an honors certificate program, which will develop six courses, two seminars, and include a job fair. Partners have made progress in establishing the first stages of the partnership with Mazoon College. The first four courses in the sequence on entrepreneurship have been scheduled. Twenty-three students are enrolled in the Entrepreneurship Program: eight students as accounting majors, ten students as business administration majors and five students majoring in management information systems. The first two courses, Managerial Economics I and II, will be taught by Dr. Surinder Gujral of the University of Missouri-Rolla and Dr. Sami Khan of Mazoon College. The third and fourth courses, Finance I and II, will be taught by Professor Greg Gelles, the Dean of Mazoon College and by Dr. Juma Al Ghailani, the Managing Director of Mazoon College. Textbooks have been chosen for each class and syllabi have been constructed. Classes were due to begin on January 24, 2004. Dr. Robert Davis, the U.S. partnership director will be visiting Mazoon College from February 7-14 to assist in the official launch of the program, visit with the faculty and student participants, and to make plans for next steps. Dr. Davis has been invited to brief Ambassador Baltimore and to talk with officials at the Ministry of Higher Education about this exciting new partnership. Dr. Gelles, Dr. Al Ghailani, and Dr. Davis will also work to identify, and possibly visit, several individuals from the Muscat business community to seek their support and participation in the program. The Board of Directors of Mazoon College has been contacted to help establish a job seminar on entrepreneurship opportunities in Oman, specifically focused on the students enrolled in the program. The seminar will include talks and presentations by Omani business people. The faculty, administration and staff of Mazoon College have been informed of the entrepreneurship program and many have expressed considerable excitement and support for the team's efforts. Dean Gelles has also presented the program goals to the Board of Directors of Mazoon College and the Director of Accreditation for the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman. All have given their strong support. Award Amount: $99,486 3) University of Arkansas/University du Centre (Tunisia) Development of Strategic Partnership for the Development and Delivery of Executive Education Programs and Undergraduate Core Curriculum Revisions for the Central University (Universite du Centre) of Tunisia at Sousse The University of Arkansas (UA) and the Université du Centre (UC) have partnered to develop and deliver executive education programs and to undertake undergraduate core curriculum revisions at UC. After execution of the subagreement between UA and ACE/ALO on December 2, 2003, the partners began planning and developing presentations and materials for a visit by members of the UA team to Tunisia in early January 2004 to discuss the development of the joint programs, determine current capacities and programmatic infrastructure at UC, and create an overall plan for the partnership. While in Tunisia, the partnership team met with the Minister of Higher Education, which culminated in his full endorsement of the program as well as an article in a Tunis newspaper. The UA team also met with the President of UC and the deans and directors of the faculties and institutes associated with business education who, during the course of these meetings, decided the enterprise curriculum development component of the partnership program would be developed for the Faculty of Economics and Management in Mahdia and the executive education component would be created for the Institute for Management at Sousse. The UA team met with the American Embassy in Tunisia during their visit. The meeting included representatives of AMIDEAST and CEMAT. The Embassy informed them about related educational programs as well as up-coming MEPI programs that might be of interest, and offered its services in facilitating the program's success. Award Amount: $100,000 EDUCATION 4) Murray State University/University of Bahrain (Bahrain) English Language Teacher Training Cohort Initiative The partnership between Murray State and the University of Bahrain (UB) will establish UB as a high quality institution in the teaching of English and in the training of English teachers. Partners will offer four M.A. scholarships to Bahraini students at Murray State to study teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). In addition, the M.A. cohort will perform community service in Bahraini government secondary schools under the guidance of partners. Partners will also develop a joint M.A. program in TESOL. The U.S. partnership director visited Bahrain from January 4 to 21. Very substantial discussions were held with university officials on two aspects of the partnership: the awarding of four scholarships for study at Murray State and the M.A. program. After obtaining approval by the University Board in Bahrain, UB will officially announce the four scholarships as positions to be filled at the University. The University is likely to approve the hiring, and the four students will receive a salary and support to cover airfare to the U.S. from UB, increasing the partnership's cost share value. A visit to Murray State by the Vice President for Academic Affairs is scheduled for the end of March, 2004 and the U.S. partnership director will make another visit to Bahrain soon thereafter Award Amount: $91,261 AMERICAN STUDIES Internationalizing American Studies: Building Partnership for a Global Perspective This partnership will strengthen the two partner institutions' respective programs on the study of American history and culture through a series of faculty and student linkages, exchanges, and workshops, and will develop a collaborative relationship between faculty members at both institutions. To date, the subagreement between UNC-Chapel Hill and ALO/ACE is still in draft form pending requested revisions to the subagreement from UNC-Chapel Hill. Award Amount: $93,685 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES 6) University of Connecticut/Ain Shams University (Egypt) Master of Science in Information Technology and Entrepreneurship - Creating Synergies between IT and Business The partnership between the University of Connecticut (UConn) and Ain Shams University (ASU) is creating a master's degree at ASU in information and communication technology and entrepreneurship. The primary goal of the degree program is to prepare a qualified workforce for Egypt's ambitious program in information technology (IT). Upon execution of the subagreement between UConn and ACE/ALO on November 24, 2003, the UConn partners held two meetings to review the objectives of the project and to initiate activities. As a result of the meetings, UConn's director of the Center for International Business Education and Research offered to organize a workshop in Storrs, CT for IT companies in the United States that have, or plan to have, a business presence in Egypt to introduce the proposed academic program to these companies. The UConn co-director visited Egypt to attend the 46th IEEE Symposium on Circuits and Systems during the last week of December. While in Egypt, he collected syllabi for undergraduate and graduate courses from each of the involved colleges at ASU and met with the ASU team to discuss implementation of the degree program. During their discussions, the partners decided that the Faculty of Computers and Information Sciences would administer the degree program. The UConn co-director also met with the person in charge of ASU's incubator project at the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology who agreed to join the ASU team. Award Amount: $99,914 Partnerships Between SMU and the University of Tunis El Manar Southern Methodist University (SMU) and the Université de Tunis el Manar (UTEM) in Tunisia are collaborating to reduce Tunisia's shortage of quality faculty members in computer science. Upon execution of the subagreement between SMU and ACE/ALO on November 20, 2003, the partnership team began identifying possible participants in the training program from UTEM faculty members and graduates students and selected eight participants. The program directors also collected information on Tunisia's economy to ensure that the entrepreneurship training to be offered by the partnership will meet Tunisia's industry and business needs. Preparations are underway for a Spring 2004 visit by two U.S. partners to Tunisia where they will give guest lectures, help develop UTEM's ICT curriculum, interact with UTEM faculty members and students, participate in research seminars, work closely with Ph.D. candidates, and visit research labs and industry in Tunisia. Award Amount: $98,661 MEDIA AND JOURNALISM 8) DePaul University and the University of Bahrain (Bahrain) De Paul - University of Bahrain Partnership The partnership between DePaul and the University of Bahrain (UB) is supporting and enhancing curricular initiatives at UB to provide new learning opportunities in the field of media and journalism for students and faculty in both countries. Three DePaul faculty visited Bahrain in mid-December 2003. Partners discussed the future of the DePaul-University of Bahrain partnership with members of the university's administration, its students, and officials at Bahrain Television, Bahrain radio, the editor-in-chief of Al Ayyam, an English-language daily newspaper, the staff of the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain. Partners discussed various areas of cooperation including: A Digital Media Technology Center The partners also discussed having the U.S. partnership director teach two classes in Bahrain: Journalism in a Digital Age and Broadcast Journalism, in spring 2004. A Summer Institute will follow in which Bahraini students will come to DePaul for a summer immersion experience that will expose them to Chicago area media professionals. Osman Assayid, a professor at UB, will visit DePaul, beginning January 31, 2004 for one week. During that time partners will introduce him to key faculty, administrators and programs at DePaul. He will have an opportunity to speak to several classes and partners will fine tune their future plans and teaching materials. The partners believe that the discussions have begun very favorably. Dr. Husam Rafiyi, chairman of the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Bahrain, as well as Shaika Miriam Al Khalifa, the president of the university, Mohammed Al-Sayyid, the vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Ibrahim Quloom, the dean of their College of Arts and Sciences, could not have been more interested, helpful and appreciative to the partners in starting this collaboration. The partners also praise Aleta Wenger, a public relations officer at the U.S. Embassy, and her assistant, Hana Assaeed for their assistance. Award Amount: $99,920
[end] Released by the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs |
 | |||
|
