U.S.-funded program offers Internet training (10/31/99)

U.S.-funded program offers Internet training

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A U.S. government-funded Internet training program, which already has established a series of computer access centers in Ukraine, is now proceeding to its second stage, to give alumni of U.S. technical assistance programs Internet skills.

The Internet Access and Training Program (IATP), sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State (formerly the U.S. Information Agency) and administered by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX), will spend about $400,000 through October 2001 to teach students, academics, professionals and businessmen who have taken part in such U.S.-sponsored programs as the Fulbright Scholar Exchange Program, the Edmund S. Muskie Fellowship Program, Curriculum Development Exchange Program, International Visitor Program, Community Connections and other programs how to use the information superhighway - a skill the bureau hopes will help foster continued information-sharing, network-building and collaboration with U.S. and European counterparts.

In the last few years, thousands of Ukrainians have taken advantage of U.S. government technical assistance and exchange programs whose aim is to promote democracy, civil society, and public and private sector partnerships through exchanges between the U.S. and Ukraine of businessmen, students, scholars and professionals.

The IATP has established model Internet access centers to help these alumni of U.S. government programs continue to maintain a dialogue with their colleagues in the United States and to further their educational and professional training. The access centers are located at key Ukrainian universities around the country. Currently, the IATP is working to expand to all the major regional cities.

Right now, there are working computer centers at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Kharkiv Polytechnical University - academic institutions from which many of the more than 5,000 alumni of exchange programs were chosen. Plans exist for the development of more centers in oblast capitals such as Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Odesa, Ternopil, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Uzhhorod.

Myron Hirniak, IATP regional coordinator for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, said that in the first stage the object was to establish the Internet access sites and the infrastructure. Now it was on to the development of "a dynamic mix of training and community outreach," explained Mr. Hirniak.

At the centers, alumni will be able to further develop their professional and academic skills, whether in business, law, medicine or any of the other myriad specializations accented in the government technical assistance programs.

"The point is not just to maintain contacts with the people they met in the United States, it is to take the knowledge they have developed to the next phase," said Mr. Hirniak.

The centers give access to the Internet via the computers housed in the facility, which in itself is a tremendous service in a country where home-based computers still are considered a unique luxury. In addition, the sites offer their alumni specialized training workshops though the Internet, as well as seminars and roundtables on various topics, including course material available on CD-Rom, as well as video conferencing.

Although the IATP's goal is to "produce" Internet users in Ukraine who will use the information network to publish information, develop Internet-based resources, obtain on-line information and create non-commercial Internet networks, this advance guard of Internet aficionados is expected to do more than merely become bleary-eyed, achy-wristed computer hacks. The hope is that they will become a cadre of Internet proponents who will transfer their knowledge to others.

"We have made excellent progress in connecting our alumni, and with our current and future development, we will able to hook up even more," said Mr. Hirniak.

Citing the program's motto, "to build community networks," the IATP coordinator explained that he hopes that eventually relations will form with schools, hospitals, and civic and government organizations, and that the program's alumni will act as the conduits.

The IATP is cooperating with government bodies as well, to link them to the information superhighway. It has already held informational seminars with Ministry of the Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Hirniak sees the program's initial primary goal as Internet and computer training. "Computer and Internet knowledge in Ukraine are not up to par with what the alumni are exposed to in the West," explained Mr. Hirniak.

So, the program's first priority is to make those who qualify for the program Internet-wise. And the most direct way is to give people access to computers, which is what the computer centers will do.

To ensure that the program continues to unfold even after U.S. government funding for it ceases, the IATP carefully chooses the institutions at which it develops its Internet access centers. These institutions, whether universities, schools, government centers or hospitals, must show that they will be able to continue the program after the IATP is gone.

And, most importantly, as Mr. Hirniak explained, "They are institutions where our alumni are present."

He expects that the alumni will spur and coordinate the training of new Internet users at their workplaces and wherever they are involved in the community, and help them develop computer and Internet expertise.

The IATP soon also hopes to initiate a distance learning program, a form of off-campus education increasingly accepted by Western academics. The program is part of the Civic Education Network project of IATP-2. The goal is to establish relations with accredited universities in the United States and Europe, and provide computer links that will allow the program's alumni to receive certification and degrees from major Western universities via Internet studies.

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