PLANNING REPORT

 

NIS COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

 

Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU)

AND

Khazar University (KU), Baku, Azerbaijan

 

ECA/A/S/U - 02-07

 

 

The past few weeks have been spent in planning for the activities during the first year of the grant.  The focus was on the roles of the Southern Connecticut State University faculty, coordination with the Sponsored Programs and Research Office, and detailing the activities that will have joint involvement with the faculty at Khazar University this year.

 

SCSU Faculty Involvement

 

The two project directors met and discussed who in the faculty will be assigned to head up the curriculum development for their discipline or specialization. One substitution had to be made due to the leave of absence taken by the previously named marketing professor.  A meeting is scheduled to be held on October 23, 2002 with these individuals to further orient them to the objectives to be achieved during this first year.

 

People invited to this meeting are:

 

                        Durga Prasad                                       Management (Law and Ethics)

                        James Kidney                                       Management and Strategy

                        Betty Horn                                           Accounting

                        Xie                                                       Finance

                        Peter Bodo                                           Economics

                        Mel Prince (CV hyperlinked)                Marketing

 

The Dean of the School of Business is planning to conduct a meeting of the entire faculty on Oct 25th.  The project directors have asked to be given some time to outline the activities and goals of the grant to the entire faculty.  This is an important step since everyone will be asked to make some contribution to the success of the curriculum development.

 

Sponsored Programs and Research Office

 

The two project directors met for about two hours on October 11, 2002 with the individuals who are responsible for the financial reporting during the grant period.  The university uses a system called “Banner” for all financial transactions.  In the near future an organization and project number will be assigned to this grant and activated in this system.  The meeting was to familiarize the project directors with the forms, procedures, and approvals necessary to make any disbursement from grant funds.  Information manuals were distributed to serve as a reference tool for administrative activities.  A number of questions were asked and answered.  Certain specific activities in this grant will require a little more research before the approved procedures are delineated.

 

Khazar University  Faculty Involvement

 

We expect Muhammed Nuriyev, Dean of the School of Economics and Management (SEM) and director of the program in Azerbaijan, will visit Southern for four weeks in the Fall of 2002. During the visit, the U.S. project directors (Andoh and Frank) and the rest of the curriculum development team will get the opportunity to listen to Nuriyev describe the current state of affairs at SEM and hear him layout his vision. In particular, the Dean has been asked to address the following issues:

           

a)         Information on the programs currently being offered.  This information would include its rationale, participation rate, evaluative materials, etc ;

 

b)                  Information on the courses in each program;

 

c)                  Who are the faculty members teaching the courses and what are their qualifications, what help in upgrading skills (if they have to be upgraded) are required.

 

d)                  What resources are available to faculty and students (books, journals, computer hardware and software)

 

e)                  What vision does he have for SEM.

 

Based on the discussions with Dean Nuriyev, participants will then discuss over the course of the year with their Azerbaijan counterparts, what changes should be made to the programs and courses at SEM.  More specifically, the group will develop a set of course sequences to contribute to each program at SEM. 

 

Grant Activity

 

The proposal included collecting data from alumni and employers in Azerbaijan as to the strengths and weaknesses of the current undergraduate business program.  Dr. Ellen Frank, who has primary responsibility in this area, has already reviewed the survey to be conducted.   She will be very soon initiating contact with her counterpart in Baku, to design the methodology (mailed or personal interview) that will be used to collect this stage one feedback.

 

In the original proposal, the plan was to bring two faculty members from Azerbaijan during the Spring of 2003 and then two more during the Spring of 2004. Upon further reflection, it is thought that a better use of grant funds will be for the first two faculty members to arrive for Fall 2003 followed by two more in Spring 2004.  This will allow the same apartment to be utilized by the visiting faculty and thus permit us to enter into a one year lease to take care of long term visitors.  

 

At the end of the 2002/03 academic year, the following objectives are expected to be met:

 

a)         Refinement of current programs as needed

 

b)                  Proposal of new programs

 

c)                  Development of outlines for all courses in the programs (both old and new) in collaboration with counterparts at SEM.

 

External Evaluator

 

The external evaluator, Bijan Fazlollahi, was contacted and he has affirmed his willingness and readiness to perform the duties as outlined in the proposal.

 

Conclusion

 

The faculty members at the school are genuinely happy about being awarded this grant.  Most realize it is an honor to have been chosen, as well as a responsibility to affect the most beneficial change at our partner institution.  The initial days with this grant can only be judged very positively.