Washington, DC (July 27, 2007) - Higher Education for Development (HED), in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID/Egypt), announces a new award for a university partnership in Egypt. Georgia State University receives a $400,000 award to improve the quality of market-oriented business education at Cairo University.
By updating the curriculum to meet the needs of the business community and introducing professional certification standards, the partnership seeks to facilitate faculty development related to course development, teach methodologies and writing case studies, and cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship with the private sector.
The partners will conduct a detailed assessment at the outset of partnership activities to identify the needs of the private sector and standards for professional certification. This will result in the design of new curriculum modules to address the gaps between what is currently taught and the identified needs of the private sector.
Partnership activities – guided by a private sector Advisory Board – will include faculty development, training in administration and technical assistance to develop private sector relations, and curriculum development. In addition to courses and course modules, the partnership will build a library of relevant materials for the Faculty of Commerce to serve as the basis for ongoing research and curriculum revision.
To ensure sustainability, the partnership will seek funding from the Egyptian business sector and U.S. businesses engaged in commercial activities in Egypt.
Through the Collaborative Partnerships program, USAID's Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade/Office of Education (EGAT/ED) is assisting USAID Missions to mobilize the expertise and resources of U.S. and host country higher education institutions to strengthen host country organizational effectiveness. The overall goal is to improve the ability of higher education institutions to better contribute to host country development. The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years. For more information, please visit http://www.usaid.gov.
The HED program engages the resources of higher education institutions in the United States and abroad for global social and economic development through human and institutional capacity building. HED assists the nation’s six major higher education associations and their members in partnering with USAID, as well as other development agencies and donor organizations. For more information about HED, please visit http://www.HEDprogram.org.
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