REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION OF AFGHAN LEADERS THROUGH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001095

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/PPD, SCA/A
STATE FOR ECA/A

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KIRC SCUL AF
SUBJECT: REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION OF AFGHAN LEADERS THROUGH
UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS

REF: Kabul 1037


1. SUMMARY: Reftel provided an overview of Afghan higher education
and post's efforts to engage various institutions throughout the
country. As it notes, all major Afghan political movements of the
20th century started among students and faculty of Kabul University,
including the communists, the Islamists, and the radical Islamists.
While USAID and a number of U.S. educational institutions are
involved in a small number of partnerships with individual
universities, the American presence on university campuses is
minimal. The social sciences, journalism and the humanities in
particular suffer from a lack of partnership opportunities. Given
the importance of the higher education sector in developing the next
generation of Afghan leaders, post recommends that ECA/A establish a
university partnership program for reaching this vital constituency.
End summary.


2. While the Ministry of Education has funding for a huge textbook
development project and teacher training, the Ministry of Higher
Education does not. USAID's Office of Democracy and Governance has
worked to produce a number of law textbooks now in use at American
University of Afghanistan (AUAf). USAID's Office of Economic Growth
has established a Bachelor in Business program at Kabul University;
150 students will graduate with this degree this year. A select
group of graduating seniors will participate in a three-month
training program in Small and Medium Enterprise Development in
Afghanistan (?),followed by a three-month internship.


3. USAID supports a number of other initiatives. In addition to
upgrading skills of university faculty, staff, and students across
the country, its programs have provided 138 scholarships so that
faculty and ministry staff could obtain certificates and graduate
degrees at regional and American universities. Many stateside
institutions, including Washington State University, Indiana
University and the University of Massachusetts, in addition to
Stanford, are implementing partners or sub-contractors for USAID
projects. Purdue has also worked with Afghan universities in the
field of agriculture.


4. For instance, Washington State University is implementing a
five-year, $12 million USAID cooperative agreement that facilitates
alliances between Afghan institutions and partners in the U.S.,
India, Japan, Europe, Africa, and the Philippines. As a result,
Afghan faculty and administrators have been sent to these partner
institutions, and foreign counterparts have taught at Afghan
institutions. Their increased common knowledge base, improved
attitudes and skills have contributed to updated curriculum,
syllabi, and online content in key academic areas. This cooperative
agreement will continue through June 2011.


5. The World Bank has been involved in supporting some university
partnerships, such as the Kansas State - Kabul U/Balkh U
partnerships in Engineering and English. Professors at Herat
University's Engineering faculty have also benefited from WB-funded
training at the University of Connecticut-Hartford. Some German
universities have supported IT partnerships. Herat University also
enjoys partnerships with various universities in Europe, Asia, and
Iran.


6. With the exception of the above-named partnerships, the American
presence on university campuses is quite minimal. The social
sciences, journalism and humanities are particularly lacking in
partnership opportunities. We believe that a USG-funded program
supporting university partnerships would not only help fill the
current void in higher education, but also demonstrate a lasting
American commitment.


7. Our vision of partnerships includes a focus on four broad
objectives: the exchange of faculty; creating a common knowledge
base (consisting of new library acquisitions and translations of
texts); enhancing educational technologies; and engaging in
collaborative research. Partnerships should also include exchange
opportunities for undergraduates, an area of need not currently
addressed by ongoing ECA programs.


8. The current security environment precludes the implementation of
university partnerships such as we saw in the former Soviet and
Warsaw Pact countries, but we believe that with some modification,
Afghanistan could reap many of the same rewards. Other university
partnerships have cited some of the following benefits:

-- Both partners learned to work effectively together in a
complex exchange of ideas, experiences and values. They emerged
with a deeper understanding of academic and cultural differences and
similarities, and found new common ground.

-- The partnership enriched and modernized curricula, as well
as incorporated technology in the educational process.


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-- Past exchanges resulted in positive attitudes toward the
Unites States after students visited the U.S., and continued
interaction with American academic colleagues.


9. Existing models of university partnerships would need to be
modified to take the security situation into account. We realize
this will include significantly more support from the Embassy/PRTs,
fewer Americans traveling to Afghanistan, and a greater focus on
rebuilding infrastructure, especially in terms of materials,
internet, and digital technologies that would enable video
conferencing to bring partners together. While World Bank
partnerships have American faculty actually working full-time on
Afghan campuses, we do not recommend our taking responsibility for
the security of these individuals. The Embassy/PRTs would be ready
to provide support for initial assessments and short term visits.


10. Partnerships would benefit from having a returned Fulbrighter or
other Afghan who has gone through the American educational system
serving as an impartial project manager on the ground. Such a
person would be in the best position to understand both sides and
candidly communicate with the partners.


11. We also believe that the likeliest candidates for partnerships
are in Kabul, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif (Balkh University),given
the relatively secure environment. These universities have also
expressed the most interest in partnerships and have some experience
already in working with Americans. Given existing partnerships in
the fields of English, Engineering and Agriculture, post recommends
that a proposed university partnership program focus on social
sciences, journalism, and humanities. Herat University could also
benefit from a partnership for its medical faculty.


12. The absence, by and large, of western faculty teaching and
researching at Afghan universities, the small percent of classes
taught in English, and the paucity of scholarships for Afghan
faculty and students to study in the west are ceding the ground to
others. By putting more effort and funding into university
partnerships, we will be enhancing not only today's generation of
students, but also future security and development for Afghanistan.
ECA/A should take advantage of this opportunity by establishing a
university partnership program for Afghanistan.

RICCIARDONE