Afghanistan ministry of higher education

Educational Partnerships:

Educational Partnerships:  the key to building

sustainability and stability in countries of conflict

Authors: Fred R. McFarlane, Ph.D., Steve Spencer, Ed.D.,

Table 1: University Partnerships supported by SHEP/WB

These international partnerships, which are based on a foundation of mutual respect and ownership, have allowed changes to occur that emanate from within the Afghanistan university rather than being imposed from the top down. The process of change is slow. Changing societal attitudes from fear and intimidation to scholarly pursuit and hope for a better future depends on small successful steps that demonstrate that lasting change is possible.  At each step, those whose power depends on ignorance challenge and seek to sabotage the changes that promote knowledge, understanding and education.  There are numerous infrastructure challenges including the rebuilding (or building) of classrooms, acquiring books, rebuilding libraries and introducing technology.  There are critical challenges to develop new knowledge and skills among current faculty members, many who have not had formal training for at least the past twenty years.  There is also the urgent need for training and supporting new faculty to fill an increasing numbers of faculty positions.
The initial steps have been small but purposeful.  Faculty, many of whom have not had formal training opportunities to upgrade their knowledge for decades, are being given the opportunity to learn current practices and theories.  The introduction of both students and faculty to computers and the Internet, with its vast array of resources and immediate access, has opened opportunities for learning and development not experienced in the past.  The awakening of higher education for the country of Afghanistan is moving forward purposefully, and insuring the building blocks are stable and solid for long-term sustainability.
To secure long-term peace and stability there must be an educated citizenry.  We know that once educational opportunities and knowledge are provided, there can be no turning back.  A quest for learning becomes a part of the fabric of the individual and impacts not only the individual but also members of their family and the persons they interact with each day. The education of each individual has a multiplier effect on each person they touch, and serves as a basis for developing shared beliefs and values – beliefs and values that honor the dignity of the human spirit and enable society to establish a solid foundation for the future.  Education allows more citizens to contribute to daily rebuilding efforts within their country.  Also, each additional year of formal education males receive will reduce their risk of becoming involved in conflict by 20% (Save the Children, 2008).

A case study between two universities
The development of the partnership between Nangarhar University (NU) in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and San Diego State University (SDSU) in San Diego, California, provide a glimpse into how – through education and the development of professional and personal relationships – a culture of learning and a value for education can and is emerging.  As the educational partnership emerges based on mutual respect and interest, it becomes difficult to reverse the learning and will eventually serve as a foundation for change for the youth and the adults – both women and men – in their community.  The key is sustainability and consistency, the development of relationships that transcend formal positions and titles, and the changing of established norms, stereotypes and behaviors – at both institutions and with administrators, faculty, students and each institution’s community.
The relationship between NU and SDSU began five years ago through the developmental efforts of two members of the La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club.  Beginning in 2002, these individuals identified a significant need for education – at all levels and for all children and adults – to bring the community back from the decades of war and conflict. In 2005 a Memorandum of Understanding between NU and SDSU formalized the institutional relationship and provided a foundation from which specific projects began to develop. Through a series of developmental steps where personal relationships were formed, the building blocks for supporting an educational rebirth began to emerge.  During the same time the WB, in collaboration with the Afghanistan MOHE and the government of Afghanistan, started an ambitious process of rebuilding the country’s higher education system.  One of the cornerstones of the rebuilding process was the development of international partnerships in higher education with the current institutions of higher education in Afghanistan.  Through the SHEP, two major partnership projects have been supported between NU, SDSU, and MOHE. These projects focus on supporting NU in developing world class English Language and Engineering programs.
From this beginning, the two volunteers engaged faculty and staff from SDSU’s Interwork Institute to address critical educational needs identified by NU. This resulted in a relationship between NU and SDSU that has been continuously developed, refined and expanded during the past five years. The Partnership is based on a vision that quality changes in human development must come through education and targeted program development.  The Partnership works to identify resources and supports to assist NU in developing high quality education programs for its students and educational opportunities for its faculty. 
NU was selected as one of the SHEP project universities because it is the second oldest (after Kabul University) public university in the country.  NU was established in 1963 and is considered as the primary university in the Eastern region. Like other public institutions of higher education, NU suffered from \"poor quality of education\", \"a fragmented and inefficient institutional set-up\", \"lack of appropriate physical facilities\", \"lack of relevance and linkages with the economy\", \"inefficient and insufficient financing\", and \"outdated governance and management\". These were some of the typical problems that all public universities in Afghanistan suffered from in 2002. The situation has improved since then but some of the problems still persist. Similar to other universities, many of the NU faculty had left the country.  Those that remained lacked current academic and management skills. Dr. Amanaullah Hamidzai, the Chancellor of NU, has played a key role in addressing critical infrastructure and faculty development issues at NU.  Under his leadership, despite the high risks and challenges, consistent leadership has been provided that coordinates and focuses on NU’s rebuilding efforts.
The Partnership also serves to support NU faculty and administrators who endure the risks of taking bold steps to create world-class educational opportunities for their students. As new and revised academic programs are being implemented, the inevitable challenges from those wanting to maintain the status quo are met through the strength of the professional and personal relationships.  These relationships, established during the past five years, have resulted in incremental steps toward progress gained and recognized by all parties.

Lessons Learned (and still learning)
The following are key lessons that have been learned as the NU and SDSU Partnership has developed over the past five years.  The learning process continues on a daily basis to ensure, sustain and grow the Partnership and improves the capacity of NU to provide high quality education programs for its students through qualified faculty and administrators.

• The direction of the Partnership must be owned and led by the faculty, students and administrators of NU. Carefully identifying NU needs and expectations and then shaping the technical assistance and support needed to establish educational responses and programs to these needs is essential.  This is an ongoing and evolving process that requires mutual respect and trust with constant and continuous communication.
• The success of the Partnership depends on establishing and supporting sound working relationships between key stakeholders. The working relationships must be sustained through regular communication, including periodic face-to-face meetings that allow for progress reviews and updates to occur. It is critical to be able to make adjustments to plans as changing circumstances emerge.
• The success of the Partnership requires the flexibility to adjust activities in a manner that produces the desired outcomes of the educational experiences and programs. The ability to work through issues that might otherwise prevent forward progress is critical.
• Sustainable change requires that the actions of the Partnership continually focus on ownership by the NU faculty, students and administrators.  The development of programs and curriculum must use sound pedagogy and current instructional strategies while being mindful of the need to infuse these new practices within the academic culture of NU. Opportunities for collegial exchange and communication are essential. Without more thorough involvement and a deeper sense of project \"ownership\" at the university level, project inception, monitoring and outcomes will be difficult to manage, utilize and sustain.
• The success of the Partnership is a function of all parties benefiting from the outcomes of the Partnership. The relationship between NU and SDSU is built on mutual respect, trust, and benefit to both institutions.
• Strong and dependable leadership at each university is instrumental for successful project implementation. The leadership at NU has been consistent and focused.  In universities where the leadership has a vision and commitment, the Partnerships have fared better. 
• It is essential that a comprehensive sector strategy be developed soon under which projects such as the SHEP can be implemented. Without a policy reform framework at the sub-sector (e.g. university autonomy and cost-recovery/sharing), it is an added burden and even more difficult to secure and implement partnerships. The MOHE should begin to gradually pilot cost recovery, autonomy and income generation plans that key public universities, such as NU, are able to implement.
• The success of the Partnership depends on all parties having meaningful participation in planning and decision-making. Plans and decisions must be collaborative, continuously refined and responsive to the changes of NU’s expectations and needs.
• Selected successful training and collaboration examples from the NU/SDSU partnership include the following:
• Initial training in the use of computers with faculty who had very limited knowledge of and access to Internet computers occurred in 2004. The faculty members now have access to broadband Internet connections and have created many collegial connections throughout the world.
• There have been examples of faculty being able to apply for funding, identify research topics of critical interest, and establish collegial relationships with faculty from other institutions of higher education internal to Afghanistan and with international universities.
• The 2008 Summer Institute for English Language Program (ELP) and Engineering achieved its expectations. Despite a shortened timeframe and altered trainee roster due to visa restrictions, both participants and instructors deemed the Institutes a success.
• Ongoing communication between the NU and SDSU Engineering faculty has allowed for effective collaboration that has resulted in the creation of the revised four-year Engineering curriculum at NU.
• Ongoing group communication using various forms of voice-over-IP and eCoaching within the English Language Partnership has helped to monitor program progress, address program implementation issues, provide faculty mentoring and to collaboratively plan the future completion of project deliverables.
• The IT infrastructure at NU has improved with additional bandwidth, wireless networks, and an IT planning process to assist NU in making critical IT decisions in the future.
• The International Learning Center (ILC) at NU provides regular monthly educational programs that are designed to promote peace and understanding. Seminars, lectures, and training sessions are continuously scheduled to allow for a free interchange of ideas with connections throughout the world. Recently, a two-day seminar was hosted at the ILC with a focus on International Humanitarian Law. Local leaders, faculty and students attended the event from the Law Faculty.

Key challenges and the need for sustainable change
The following are key challenges that are confronting both NU and SDSU in the implementation of the outcomes for each of the two existing SHEP funded contracts.

• Because of the continuing armed insurgency within Afghanistan, security concerns by the U.S. State Department have limited the ability of SDSU to send faculty to NU for on-site training and program development. This has resulted in face-to-face meetings having to be either in San Diego or a third country such as the UAE and India. The continued efforts of the Rotary partners have provided ongoing volunteer visits to Jalalabad twice each year through their Rotary Club. This has allowed for further on-site connections to occur. Additionally, by hiring a local project manager in Afghanistan, it has been possible to effectively implement the planned programs.
• The difficulty in working through the legal criteria and risk management requirements of the American partner provides constant challenges that are often predicated on legal opinions founded primarily on exceptions and possibilities.   This results in a pervasive focus on risk aversion in the legal and contractual obligations.
• Afghanistan currently has a centralized higher education system administered through the Ministry of Higher Education. As academic programs, such as the SHEP funded English Partnership are created to help build the capacity of faculty, there is a continuing challenge of identifying faculty that meet the requirements for being selected as a trainee. For example, age (e.g. being too old), has limited some excellent candidates from participating in the training at SDSU. The issue of having a degree from an accredited university has prevented some from being accepted into a full time NU faculty position.
• Often a \"faculty position\" becomes more of an identity for the faculty member, and losing this position means losing one\'s identity. This is particularly true with regard to some of the senior faculty whose technical skills and academic status suffered from years of isolation, who could not or did not have the opportunity to catch up with the academic developments over the recent decades.  They now see any potential changes, including the introduction of younger faculty, as a case that will challenge their status and knowledge. There are positive examples of senior faculty members and their contributions to the development of the university.  However, the resistance to change does exist to varying degrees that may be slow to overcome.
• The process of getting U.S. visas approved has been a critical challenge. Only a small number of the short-term training visa applications have been approved. To date, none of the Masters Degree training visas has been approved for the NU Engineering faculty.
  Several different methods to obtain the visas have been attempted – all with very limited success. This issue needs to be addressed at the highest level. If programs such as the SHEP are going to be successful, there is a critical need to create a government-to-government agreement that will allow visa applications to be reviewed and approved for critical training needs.  It does little to fund a program that is founded on bringing faculty from Afghanistan to the U.S. if it is not possible to get the needed visas.
  We believe the Government of Afghanistan, through the MOHE and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), could help to facilitate the implementation of programs like the SHEP through direct communication with the U.S. Embassy. It is critical that the U.S. Embassy recognize the critical importance of these programs and work with their Afghanistan counterparts to ensure that individuals selected for out of country training are provided every consideration in getting approved visas in a timely manner. The MOHE and MOFA should play an active role in coordinating with the U.S. Embassy to assist Afghan faculty in obtaining the necessary visas to participate in advanced training programs offered through funding such as the SHEP.  

The present and the future: What needs to be sustained and what needs to be changed?
As described in the Partnership, the relationship between NU and SDSU continues to provide a foundation from which many exciting accomplishments have been achieved.  The ability of key stakeholders to blend public and private funding resources to meet the reconstruction needs of NU have proved to be very effective.
Central to the success of these efforts has been a bottom-up rather than top-down approach to educational development. Based on people-to-people relationships, the success of the Partnership depends on responding to local needs with practical solutions. Though there have been challenges, the key stakeholders continue to focus on moving ahead and trying new strategies. There is a clear sense of “hope” for moving towards improved peace and security that will result in further development of the relationships between NU and SDSU. 
We do, however, acknowledge the critical importance of having “top-down” support for the implementation of the projects envisioned within the NU-SDSU Partnership. Traditional decision-making must be examined and, where appropriate, changed and modified to meet the requirements of NU, their students and faculty.  At the local level, the only result is frustration without a government-to-government understanding and agreement to fully implement the projects that have been designed. Bottom-up approaches that depend on solid working relationships must be supported from the top down.
As this case study concludes, the first semester of the second year of the English Program has been completed. It is gratifying to note that two of the NU faculty who participated in MA programs in the U.S. last year and returned to NU for the opening of the 2008-09 academic year. They have been able to provide leadership and training that continues to strengthen the English Program at NU. The Engineering faculty who participated in the 2008 Summer Institute at SDSU returned to NU with excitement and a strong understanding of the SDSU Engineering Department, its curriculum and the learning strategies. They returned with a feeling of connection and support that the Partnership will produce needed changes within the NU engineering program. The face-to-face experience increased the likelihood of full implementation of the new four-year engineering curriculum that has been collaboratively developed between NU and SDSU faculty.
As a result, NU faculty now see that many possibilities for new collaborative research and new and innovative ways of facilitating training and education have emerged as a result of the interaction among NU and SDSU faculty. In many ways, the NU English and Engineering Partnerships are setting examples of academic integrity that serve as models for the rest of the faculties at NU.

References:

Department for International Development (2003). Education, conflict and international development. Retrieved March 9, 2009 from: www2.gtz.de/dokumente/bib/05-0160.pdf

Save the children (2008). Rewrite the future: The right to quality education in armed conflict. Retrieved March 9, 2009 at: www.crin.org/docs/FileManager/08_save_4.pdf

Tierney, W. (2006). Transformation, reform, and renewal in Afghanistan. International Educator, 15(5), 14-18