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2-26-1998

UM awarded USAID contract in

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UNIVERSITY RELATIONS • MISSOULA, MT 59812 • 406-243-2522 • FAX: 406-243-4520

This release is available electronically on INN (News Net.)

Feb. 26, 1998

Contact: T. Lloyd Chesnut, vice president for research, (406) 243-6670; Mark Lusk, director of International Programs, (406) 243-2289.

UM AWARDED USAID CONTRACT IN NAMIBIA

MISSOULA -

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded The University of Montana a SI.6 million contract to provide graduate training for educational leaders in the African country of Namibia, UM Vice President for Research T. Lloyd Chesnut announced Thursday.

The three-year Professional Enhancement Program will entail on-site and distance graduate training at the master’s and doctoral levels for more than 30 Namibian officials of the Ministry of

Education. UM will subcontract with the University of the Western Cape in South Africa to provide foundation coursework and act as the degree-granting institution. Montana is collaborating with

Harvard University and the on this project. Several graduate courses will be delivered by UM education faculty in , capital.

Namibia achieved its independence from South Africa in 1990 and became a multi-racial democracy. A major challenge to the country’s development has been the legacy of apartheid-era education in which non-whites were denied equal educational opportunities. The USAID/UM

Professional Enhancement Program in Namibia is part of the region’s efforts to enhance the ability of the nation to extend quality primary and secondary education to all of the country’s citizens. The project is a component of President Clinton’s African Education Initiative.

- more - NAMIBIA.RL — 2

UM was selected for this contract by virtue of the institution’s excellence in rural and distance education, Chesnut said. He and International Programs Director Mark Lusk negotiated the final details of the project this month in Windhoek.

U.S. Ambassador George Ward and Namibian Minister of Education John Mutorwa signed an agreement Feb. 2 to launch the project. Ward, on signing the agreement, said, “The PEP Program will not simply import U.S. expertise. This program of partnership with The University of Montana and sister institutions in the U.S., and with the University of Western Cape, will certainly strengthen the capacity of the ministry to deliver quality education.”

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