As of 9/30/2008

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)

United States-Russia Program: Improving Research and Educational
Activities in Higher Education

(CFDA 84.116S)

# 

# *FY 2008 New Grant Awards and Related Awards by Award Number*

####### Stanford University (California) - P116S080001

**Title: U.S.-Russia Educational Program on Global Economics Policy**

Partners: State University-Higher School of Economics (Russian
Federation)

Stanford University will collaborate with the State University-Higher
School of Economics (SU-HSE) to develop a joint United States-Russian
Federation educational program in global economics.

Four groups of faculty at Stanford will work together to provide broad
expertise in and exposure to this collaboration: Stanford University
School of Education's economics of education program, the Stanford
Center for International Development (SCID), which is affiliated with
the economics department, members of the economics department, and the
Stanford Center of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREEES).

The two-year collaboration will develop common curricula and teaching
methods for the training of economists in global economics, with special
focus on developing a Master's (MA) degree in global economics,
including courses based on problem-based learning and
competence-oriented approaches to the economics of development policy,
financial policy integrated with trade policy, finance and risk
management, human capital economics, and environmental economics. SU-HSE
will send faculty members to collaborate with Stanford faculty to review
their proposed MA program, adapt curricula and evaluation systems for
courses in areas of global economic policy important to the Russian
higher education system and to observe the teaching of economic courses
at Stanford and other California university settings, such as at the
University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, San Jose State
University, and others. SU-HSE faculty will also have the opportunity to
study how public and private universities' economics departments in the
United States recruit, train, and help economic students find positions
in the labor market.

Stanford will send faculty to SU-HSE to teach a series of seminars using
elements of the new curricula and to refine with SU-HSE faculty the
courseware and evaluation instruments based on feedback from SU-HSE
students. Based on SU-HSE student performance, Stanford faculty will
also participate with SU-HSE faculty in reviewing Stanford's reformed
undergraduate economics curriculum and evaluation system.

The Stanford Center of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies will
take the lead in sponsoring a series of seminars with visiting SU-HSE
faculty for Stanford undergraduates studying economics and international
relations. The seminars will focus on economic issues in Russia. Their
objective will be to promote interest among Stanford social science
undergraduate students in studying Russian language and Russian economic
policies and will be tied in with Stanford's Russian language program
and its overseas studies program in Russia. A similar set of seminars to
be held at SU-HSE with Stanford faculty will introduce SU-HSE students
to United States economic policy issues.

A third important product of this collaboration between Stanford and
SU-HSE will be the development of a Web site for open source courseware
in global economic policy subjects to make available to other Russian
Federation (RF) universities. The Web site will draw from United States
university experiences in open source courseware/distance learning. To
better understand how to introduce this courseware widely in the RF,
Stanford and SU-HSE will collaborate on a joint research project to
study the organization and teaching of economics and openness to
innovative methods in a sample of RF economics and business departments.
The joint research project will also further an important SU-HSE
objective of expanding and improving its capacity in empirical policy
research.

FY 2008 Award: \$188,718

Total Estimated Award (2 years): \$403,869

Contact: Professor Martin Carnoy, School of Education; Stanford
University, 485 Lasuen Hall, Stanford CA 94305; Telephone: 650-906-7469;
<carnoy@stanford.edu>

**RELATED FY 2008 AWARDS**

**(NOT FUNDED UNDER THIS COMPETITION)**

**University of Nebraska at Omaha (Nebraska) - P116U080001**

**Title:** **U.S.-Russia Technology, Language, and Cultural Exchange**

Partners: People's Friendship University of Russia (Russian Federation)

Language skills are critical to meet the challenges of global
interconnectedness; and a thorough comprehension of vital languages is
essential to bring a deeper understanding of literature; educational
practices; advancements in science and technology; as well as cultural,
economic, and political systems. The growing pace of the global
community means that institutions worldwide must prepare students for a
lifetime of work that may occur in a global environment. This
preparation is important for everyone, including those who may be
disadvantaged.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and Peoples' Friendship
University of Russia (PFUR) have formed a consortium to address
weaknesses in our respective levels of knowledge, curriculum, and
pedagogy. The partnership will contribute to the development of
educational opportunities between the two nations, particularly in the
areas of mutual foreign language learning through access to and the use
of Information Technology (IT) capabilities. UNO-PFUR faculty and
teaching staff in the area of applied linguistics and second language
acquisition will offer workshops both in Omaha and on site in Russia to
train faculty and students in the use and development of
language-learning technologies. Student exchanges will provide Russian
students the opportunity to access the UNO English as a Second Language
program and to participate in workshops on the application of IT to
language acquisition. United States students will have the opportunity
to immerse themselves in the rich Russian culture and language. In
addition, UNO-PFUR Information Technology departments will develop an
innovative user-friendly, Russian-English multimedia Web portal and will
provide special seminars to faculty, teaching staff, and students on how
to utilize this Web site to study the Russian and English languages.
This Web portal will sustain and institutionalize this program and may
be replicated by other universities, businesses, governments, and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the globe.

FY 2008 Award: \$212,215

Total Estimated Award (2 years): \$398,103

Contact: Thomas E. Gouttierre, Dean, International Studies and Programs;
University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Nebraska at Omaha,
Omaha, NE 68182-0227; Telephone: 402-554-2376; <teg@unomaha.edu>

**University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Illinois) - P116U080002**

**Title:** **U.S.-Russia Partnership in Engineering Curriculum and
Online Delivery**

Partners: Bauman Moscow State Technical University (Russian Federation)

This project will establish a program on engineering curriculum
development and online delivery. It is a joint effort of the University
of Illinois Global Campus (UIGC)
([http://global.uillinois.edu](http://global.uillinois.edu/)) and the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the
University of Illinois (UIUC) in the United States and the Bauman Moscow
State Technical University (BMSTU) in Moscow, Russia.

The project will introduce BMSTU faculty to the Global Campus Initiative
by providing a workshop on developing and teaching science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM) courses online and by inviting faculty to
participate in a Web-based degree program to prepare them to create and
manage online courses and programs. The intent is to assist BMSTU
institute with a similar program in Russia. Concurrently, ECE will send
several faculty to BMSTU to compare and revise existing curricula.

Specifically, emphasis will be placed on: (1) benchmarking BMSTU and
UIUC curricula against premier engineering programs at several
institutions worldwide; and (2) beginning the process of incorporating
novel aspects of the BMSTU curriculum into UIUC ECE undergraduate and
graduate programs.

FY 2008 Award: \$197,612

Total Estimated Award (2 years): \$400,000

Contact: Gary Eden; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 254 Henry

Administrative Building, 508 South Wright Street, Urbana, IL 61801;
Telephone: 217-333-

2211; <jgeden@uiuc.edu>