The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that grants have been made to three university consortia, each led by a US institution of higher learning, to partner with and strengthen Iraqi universities.
Additional grants will follow in the coming weeks. The Higher Education and Development (HEAD) program for Iraq is one of USAID’s most significant engagements with the university community in recent years. The universities will support the work of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to strengthen the capacity of Iraqi universities.
Archeology and Environmental Research is the first of these grants, a $4.1 million award, to a consortium led by the Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook that will partner with Baghdad University, Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, Mosul University and Basrah University.
The consortium, which includes Columbia University, Boston University and Oxford University will provide tools and training to modernize curricula in archaeology and assyriology and conduct research using modern analytical methods. Funds will also develop curricula in environmental health and conduct environmental research programs using modern techniques. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
