UGA engineering professor Takoi Hamrita has received a $600,000
U.S. State Department grant to advance higher education reform
in Tunisia. The unique goals of the grant identify real opportunities
based on extensive consultations with higher education leaders,
administrators and faculty in Tunisia that pair national
initiatives in the country with UGA leadership. Specifically
the areas include public service and outreach, assessment
and evaluation, and distance education – all crucial
to the region’s long term modernization objectives.
The breadth of the project reflects attentive cultivation
of support from key decision makers within the university
community and the U.S. State Department and coordination
with the leaders of a dynamic, developing country already
deeply engaged in higher education reform efforts. By establishing
several nexus points where the interests of these three
stakeholders converged, Hamrita brought the partners together
with strategic new connections that cross-benefit and amplify
the efforts of the participants.
Funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI),
a State Department initiative aimed largely at education
reform efforts in the region, the grant focuses on three
essential areas of work. First, the project will continue
UGA efforts with the Virtual University of Tunis to support
efforts in pedagogical training and online course development
necessary to meet Tunisia’s goal of having 20 percent
of the university curriculum in priority disciplines on
the Web by 2006-07.
Second, the partnership will expand into working with
Tunisian universities to establish effective self- and
external evaluation mechanisms. UGA faculty will work closely
with a national committee appointed by the Ministry of
Higher Education to address this important issue.
The third area of work focuses on reinforcing the links
between Tunisian universities and civil society via university
public service and outreach. Through creative pilot projects,
Tunisian faculty and administrators will begin to build
mechanisms to establish the universities as brokers of
knowledge and expertise to help their communities. This
aspect of the collaboration with Tunisia allows UGA students
and educators a unique opportunity to work closely with
the communities and to gain a deeper understanding of Tunisian
culture.
A native of Tunisia, Hamrita said she’s “very
excited about this project and look[s] forward to the opportunities
it provides UGA and Tunisia. It is one thing to envision
such a project, but seeing it come to fruition is a product
of the great efforts and wonderful support of the UGA administrators
and faculty, the Tunisian government and the State Department.”
Building the New Learning Environment
The new learning environment is an academic and intellectual
community on the campus of the University of Georgia humming
with the vibrancy of the true college experience—bright
and talented students working with brilliant faculty formally
in the classroom and informally over a cup of coffee or lounging
in the greenspace which stretches from one end of campus to
the other. It is a place which recognizes that new information
technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines
and embraces those opportunities. |
Takoi
Hamrita appears during a live interview show on Tunisian television
to discuss the partnership.
