The mission of The American University of Central Asia (AUCA) is to meet the need in Central Asia of "a new generation equipped with a modern understanding of how economic resources, information, and rights are held and used in a free society." In 1999, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs awarded a three-year grant for AUCA faculty development and administrative training to Indiana University in cooperation with several other universities within the Indiana Consortium for International Programs.  The Program is administered by CIEDA in association with IU's Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center.  In 2003 CIEDA was awarded a second 3-year grant from the State Department to continue its work at AUCA in faculty and administrative developement. The grant is to help AUCA develop into the region's premier higher education institution.

The Program addresses AUCA's institutional development in five areas: faculty development, administrative training, library development, internet access, and research and publications.   Through faculty exchanges it provides for AUCA faculty trained in the Soviet higher education system to gain exposure to the way in which the social sciences are studied and taught in the West. MA training in the humanities and social sciences is producing new faculty for AUCA.  The target academic fields under the Program are Journalism/Communications, International Relations, Political Science, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, and American Studies.  The visits of ICIP faculty to AUCA  contribute to course and curriculum development in those fields. 

Administrative exchanges enable AUCA administrators to learn about and adapt administrative systems in order to improve the efficiency of its operation. 

The Program is improving AUCA library collections by sending over 10,000 books and journals and providing access through the World Wide Web to electronic sources of information.  It also provides incentives and guidance to faculty to engage in research activities.

ICIP faculty members and departments benefit from the exchange by gaining opportunities for teaching and research in topics relating to Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. IU's partners in the program are Ball State University, DePauw University, IUPUI, IU Southeast, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Valparaiso University.

For more information, please contact:  Charles Reafsnyder.

Center for International Education and Development Assistance - Indiana University - 201 North Indiana Avenue -
Bloomington, IN 47408-4001 Phone - 812/855-8882 FAX - 812/855-6271
Copyright 2001, The Trustees of Indiana University