Foreign Policy Blogs

Development & Higher Education: USAID in Egypt

American University of Cairo

American University of Cairo

USAID is to be commended for creating and successfully implementing a program in Egypt that combines the best of development policy and US higher education resources.  The LEAD Program (Leadership for Education and Developoment) anually selects two students from each of Egypt’s 27 governorates to attend the American University of Cairo.  The scholarships are reserved for students who have attended government-run public schools and not the private school students who regularly fill AUC’s ranks.  Begun in 2005, the program offers intensive training for students in academics, leadership, community involvement and ethics.   In addition, about 30% of the LEAD students spend a semester studying at a US institution, including SUNY New Paltz.  In my experiencem these semesters have been a great success, for Egyptian students and the Americans they get to know during the semester.   Several thousand students apply for the 54 slots each year.   With more funding and more participating institutions this program could be expanded -within Egypt and across the Arab world (for starters) with no dimunition in quality.  I am not aware of similar programs supported by USAID but please let me know of any if they exist.  US higher education is still respected and admired in the Arab world and programs like this certainly do as much (likely more) to support long-term US development goals in the Arab world as technical assistance contracts .

 

Author

James Ketterer

James Ketterer is Dean of International Studies at Bard College and Director of the Bard Globalization and International Affairs program. He previously served as Egypt Country Director for AMIDEAST, based in Cairo and before that as Vice Chancellor for Policy & Planning and Deputy Provost at the State University of New York (SUNY). In 2007-2008 he served on the staff of the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education. He previously served as Director of the SUNY Center for International Development.

Ketterer has extensive experience in technical assistance for democratization projects, international education, legislative development, elections, and policy analysis – with a focus on Africa and the Middle East. He has won and overseen projects funded by USAID, the Department for International Development (UK), the World Bank and the US State Department. He served on the National Security Council staff at the White House, as a policy analyst at the New York State Senate, a project officer with the Center for Legislative Development at the University at Albany, and as an international election specialist for the United Nations, the African-American Institute, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is currently a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association and has also held teaching positions in international politics at the New School for Social Research, Bard College, State University of New York at New Paltz, the University at Albany, Russell Sage College, and the College of Saint Rose.

Ketterer has lectured and written extensively on various issues for publications including the Washington Post, Middle East Report, the Washington Times, the Albany Times Union, and the Journal of Legislative Studies. He was a Boren National Security Educational Program Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and in Morocco, an International Graduate Rotary Scholar at the Bourguiba School of Languages in Tunisia, and studied Arabic at the King Fahd Advanced School of Translation in Morocco. He received his education at Johns Hopkins University, New York University and Fordham University.

Areas of focus: Public Diplomacy; Middle East; Africa; US Foreign Policy

Contributor to: Global Engagement