Center to Bridge the Digital Divide | Afghan eQuality Alliances AEQA

Afghan eQuality Alliances

For more information, visit the Afghan eQuality Alliances web site.

Overview

The Alliance is an Afghan-led organization of the stakeholders and leaders of Afghan higher education. This includes the rectors, faculty, students, Ministry officials and prospective employers, and those off-shore entities such as USDA, universities, technology and other corporations and development contractors and NGOs that seek to work with and/or partner with Afghan higher education institutions.

Goals

To contribute to rebuilding Afghanistan by creating conditions for people to live secure lives and by laying the foundations for the formation of sustainable human capital.
To increase the number of Afghan professionals, students, and citizens who are ICT capable.

Objectives

To use ICT to enhance capacity of today's Afghan's professionals, the students, who are tomorrow's professionals and citizens; and,
To enhance capacity of professionals, students and citizens to use ICT for information, communication or generation of knowledge and for completion of specific educational, workplace, or personal tasks.

Leadership role provided by Higher Education

Higher education institutions provide the leadership, managers and personnel that run and operate key institutions of society
While recognizing that higher education institutions also need to build their own capacity to respond to the needs of today's students.

Benefits of an alliance focused on the use of ICT for capacity building
“Networks get people talking; promoting collaborations and cross-pollination between, disciplines, policy areas, and service delivery methods.”

Aggregate demand for technology products and services
Enhance communications, foster administrative efficiencies and strengthen bonds within (and among) professional, educational and local communities
Share full-text online databases, educational software and video programs; share quality e-educational resources that could be available at universities and public points of presence
Collaborate on training of trainers on content development, use of an online learning management system based on open source and open code, such as KEWL, and teaching/learning with the use of ICTs.

eQuality Alliances precepts

Afghan-led – the emphasis is on the leadership role of Afghan higher education institutions in nation building.
Mutual benefit – the benefits from learning together are appreciated by both Afghan and American faculty and students.
Shared objectives – the objectives that are shared include:
1. Integration of ICT into learning and teaching in order to complement face to face learning with ICT mediated learning;
2. Joint knowledge generation, codification, and transfer in order to engender multiple-level partnerships and collaborative relationships (universities, government, industry, NGOs);
3. Policy dialogue in order to discuss cross-listing of courses, shared syllabus, and other policy responses to eLearning.
Reciprocal relationships – the relationship moves away from one-way technical assistance or knowledge transfer to two-way knowledge exchanges.

Contact

Maria Beebe
phone: +01 (509) 358-7947
email: beebem@wsu.edu