SVU WEBSITE

From the 20th SVU World Congress:

Emily Lehrman - sHigher Education Reform in Central Europe: Introduction

Welcome to the panel Higher Education Reform in Central Europe.  My name is Emily Lehrman and I am External Relations Officer for the Civic Education Project, or CEP.  CEP is happy to host this panel today in cooperation with the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences and would like to thank the organizers for their part in bringing us here today.  Four of our panelists are current or former Eastern Scholars for CEP in Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Our two guests are from William Peterson University and Montgomery Country Schools.  Together we hope to inspire a lively discussion about the current situation of higher education in these two countries and the various paths they could take to improvement.

By way of an introduction to current reform efforts already on the ground in Czech Republic and Slovakia, allow me to tell you about the work of CEP.  The Civic Education Project, an international voluntary organization rooted in the belief that democratic society requires critically minded and informed individuals, works to enhance the development of higher and professional education in societies engaged in political and economic transition.  Presently CEP operates in twenty-two countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia.  The primary vehicle by which CEP accomplishes its mission is the CEP Fellows program. This program comprises two distinct but complementary elements.  The first is the Visiting Lecturer Program.  It began in 1991 with fifteen individuals in what was then Czechoslovakia.  Visiting Lecturers are international academics and professionals who volunteer at least one academic year of their time to teach in university social science departments.  They bring new materials, a wide range of expertise, and a willingness to pursue reforms.  The second half of the Fellows program is our Eastern Scholar Program.  In 1995 Dan Marek of Palacky University was CEP's first Eastern Scholar.  Eastern Scholars are typically talented junior academics who have returned from advanced study or training abroad and have a desire to make a permanent commitment to university teaching.  CEP helps to sustain them during their re-entry by providing a modest stipend, teaching materials, Internet/email allowance, training workshops and opportunities to remain connected to the international community.

CEP supports roughly 300 Eastern Scholars, Visiting Lecturers and Eastern Scholar alumni at the current moment.  The Eastern Scholar program is the fastest- growing segment of our activities. CEP's focus on brain drain has made it the leading organization in the region striving to sustain young social scientists in post-communist countries.  But the objective behind CEP's initiatives is not just to make a difference in the life of individuals, but also to make a difference in the future of social science departments, the education of university students and the larger academic community.

Visiting Lecturers and Eastern Scholars work together to introduce new courses, update the curriculum, revise the credit system, enhance library collections, lead research seminars, begin new majors and provide international standards for evaluation.  They also focus much of their energies on providing special opportunities for students. They advise student newspapers and political clubs, coach moot court teams, host debate forums and negotiation seminars, give interview and scholarship application clinics, lead writing workshops, organize student academic conferences, and set up student internships and teaching practicums.  Fellows also offer training and mentoring to junior faculty on research, teaching methodologies, and related topics.

CEP's Fellows in Czech Republic and Slovakia are part of a joint program run by a CEP Country Director Zora Vidovencova.  Vidovencova is based in Prague but also has an office in Bratislava and travels frequently between the two countries.  This year the program supports two Visiting Lecturers, one in Public Administration at Palacky University and one in Political Science/International Relations at Comenius University.  There are five Eastern Scholars in Czech Republic and five in Slovakia, mostly in History and Political Science/International Relations.

To give you a better picture of the accomplishments of the Czech and Slovak group I would like to tell you more about their current and recent activities with CEP.  One activity that received significant attention was the series of Open Democracy Forums organized around the Slovak election debates in April 1998.  Over 300 people attended, including EU and US embassy representatives.  The forums provided a chance for students and community members to speak out about the  status of democracy in Slovakia.  More recently, the team held a Danube Valley Student Conference in Bratislava entitled "What do we have in common?".  This was the first CEP event in these countries that included "Western" students from Austria.  A total of twenty students participated.  Professor Kusy, the noted human rights activist, dissident, and political scientist gave the keynote address.  CEP has also helped Czech academics create exchanges within the region.  They have made one-week teaching visits to Slovakia and one individual has even volunteered for more than two years in Russia.

CEP Czech and Slovak Fellows have also helped to build a base of future academic leaders in their countries.  From 1995-2000 CEP joined efforts with Jan Hus Foundation to support junior faculty and graduate students in pursuit of academic careers.  This mentoring program has recently ended due to lack of funding, but CEP is already exploring new possibilities for the future.  Beginning in academic year 2001-02, they would like to launch a PhD support program to provide three-year funding in cooperation with university social science departments so that more spaces can be opened for PhD study in under-funded disciplines.

Another notable CEP initiative is CEP's cooperation with Palacky University ( & Valdosta Univeristy in the US) to create the first graduate curriculum in Public Administration in Czech Republic.  This program includes everything from distance learning initiatives (web-based courses) to training for Czech officials.

CEP welcomes partnerships with other like-minded organizations and individuals and particularly seeks support for its Fellows program in Czech Republic and Slovakia.  As my colleagues will tell you in more detail in the following presentations, there is much work to be done in these two countries in the educational sphere and it will take a combined international effort to effectively make a difference in the future.

Thank you for your attention.

back to the top of this document

~~~

SVU HOME PAGE, SVU WORLD CONGRESSES, WASHINGTON 2000, ACADEMIC PROGRAM