$2.2M grant to UNO will benefit Afghanistan universities


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska at Omaha has received a $2.2 million federal grant to help establish courses of study at two universities in Afghanistan.

University officials say the effort will build upon UNO's long relationship with Afghanistan, the Omaha World-Herald (http://bit.ly/28V1xSw ) reported Sunday.

The grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development will allow UNO's Center for Afghanistan Studies and School of Communication to help establish bachelor's degree programs in communications studies at Kabul University and Balkh University.

The two-year project is similar to a $1.3 million grant program that allowed the longtime partners to develop student-faculty exchange programs for the journalism school at Kabul University. That was awarded in 2010.

The project continues UNO's tradition of helping Afghanistan, said Sher Jan Ahmadzai, director of UNO's Afghanistan studies center.

"Communications plays an important role in anyone's personality or achievements," Ahmadzai said. "We're trying to enhance their skills."

UNO held State Department contracts from the 1970s through the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan intended to help develop programs at Kabul University, including education and agriculture. UNO also has had a sister-university relationship with Kabul University since 1976.

University officials credited Tom Gouttierre, who retired last year after 41 years as director of the UNO Afghan studies center, for laying the groundwork for the newest grant.

"This is one of the big successes after his retirement," Ahmadzai said. "His prior work helped a lot in what we are getting right now."

The grant will provide faculty visits, textbook translations and a training seminar in a third country location, where leaders from both sides can meet and exchange ideas.

___

Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Business stories

Related topics

Business
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast