FEMA Higher Education Project

This report follows up on a request by Dr Wayne Blanchard, FEMA Higher
Education Project Coordinator, for recommendations on avenues to enhance
the international presence at the annual higher education conference. A
two-pronged development approach is recommended that can be undertaken
sequentially or in parallel: additional sectors within the US disaster
management community should be the first priority for any extension
beyond the current attending groups. Once the wider US group has bedded
down, greater attention can then be given to deliberately increasing the
international presence. This recommendation, however, does not preclude
the current activities that invite selected non-US disaster management
personnel from contributing to the Higher Education Project.

The FEMA Higher Education Project is an initiative of the Emergency
Management Institute designed to support the dissemination of hazard,
disaster and emergency management related information to Colleges and
Universities across the United States of America. Annually the project
holds a 2 1/2-day conference bringing together representatives from
across the country to examine the successes, issues and concern in U.S
disaster management higher education.

The 2004 conference had 156 delegates from 98 Universities and Colleges
across the United States. Complementing these participants were 9
international representatives from 7 countries including: Canada --
Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction; Canada -- Justice Institute
of British Columbia; India -- Institute for Social and Economic
Research; Jamaica -- University of West Indies; Japan -- Earthquake
Disaster Mitigation Research Center; Philippines - National Disaster
Coordinating Center; Thailand - Asian Disaster Preparedness Center and
Turkey - Istanbul Technical University, respectively. Collectively this
group explored the topics of standardized disaster management curriculum
at the various higher education levels, the influence of the Department
of Homeland Security on the subject matter to be taught within these
curricula, and the heavily debated concept of international disaster
management.

To put this request in context, a review was conducted of workshop
participants from the last few years. This highlighted that the majority
were drawn from the U.S natural hazard or homeland security sectors of
the disaster management industry. An untapped domestic sector is the
humanitarian assistance community, which examines disasters and complex
emergencies from a different angle than their counterparts. Hence, a
recommendation is that members from the domestic humanitarian assistance
community be invited to share their perspective on higher education
needs and delivery to the current list of participates. A second
recommendation is that cross-fertilizing these views within the U.S
should take place before increases in international delegates are
sought.

Holistically examining hazards, disasters and emergency management
should strategically be the next step for the U.S higher education
community. Understanding the various perspectives and approaches to
these issues allows the natural hazards, homeland security and
humanitarian assistance communities to exchange valuable research
findings and collectively move the disaster management industry into a
new period of growth.

As a second step, the experience of how educational institutions within
the US are integrating or offering hazards, disasters and emergency
management curriculum within Colleges and Universities should be
encapsulated. Documenting the history of this evolution is a critical
step in sharing this model with the international higher education
community. This historical account should include case studies on the
successful creation and maintenance of disaster research and educational
centers, the lessons learned from institutions facing obstacles in
implementing hazard, disasters or emergency management courses or
research, the efforts of faculty members and government agencies,
funding acquisition, the labors and concerns facing the future of these
programs and the influential economic, political and legal factors
affecting this process. Additionally it is important to include a map of
how disasters and emergency management concerns, research agenda and
curriculum were navigated through the College and University governance
system. This vital background knowledge equips international
post-secondary institutions with a sample model from which to shape a
sustainable disaster management research and educational center.

While increasing the number of international delegates to the annual
FEMA higher education conference is a commendable goal, there are a
series of considerations that need to be addressed before extending
these invitations. Achieving this goal means tackling inherent barriers,
at the forefront of which include language and funding. Initially the
language barrier can be overcome by clearing stating that the conference
will be given entirely in English. While this will limit the number and
scope of international participates, it allows growth within the
conference to occur. In stating that the conference will be an English
dominated event, organizers, speakers and attendees should be strongly
encouraged to recognize that not all members of the conference have
English as their first language. Thus speaking clearly, slowly and
avoiding using U.S acronyms must be emphasized. Addressing language
concerns is a step in creating an environment that fosters active
international participation. Underlying this participation is the issue
of funding. For many international delegates attending conferences
within the United States is outside the scope of their budget.
Acknowledging this reality and providing funding opportunities for
international participates is essential in reaching the aforementioned
goal. Strategies for obtaining this sponsorship could include but are
not limited too: the FEMA Higher Education Project allotting 5
international travel bursaries in future budgets; a collection of \$2
USD from all U.S conference participates that will be used to create an
international travel fund; and the solicitation of external funding
sources.

To summarize, it is acknowledged that ensuring diversity in the group
examining disaster management higher education needs, is more likely to
result in a superior overall product. The 2004 conference provided a
forum to discuss the heavily debated topic of international disaster
management within a higher education context. Nevertheless, there are
still domestic groups within the US that need to be integrated into the
current US-focused Higher Education Project. It is recommended that this
issue be dealt with as a first priority before any large scale or
systematic expansion of the program is made to cover international
disaster management. At the same time, however, it is recommended that
discussion be encouraged on what specific components of 'international
disaster management' should be the focus: For example, is it educating
international students in U.S disaster management, or establishing a
program on various international disaster management models and how
students would respond to international emergencies? Further dialogue on
this topic should be incorporated into future conference agenda as a
prerequisite for institutionalizing an international disaster management
stream into the Higher Education Project.