“However,” he adds, “it will also be an experiment in new ways of teaching engineering. The curriculum develops technical skills in hydrology, watershed management, project administration and cross-cultural communications. But it also requires a six-credit practicum. Students must complete a project that integrates the theory with the ecology of a poor county where even the “experts” don’t have the massive amounts of data one would expect to do the same project in the U.S. or Europe.”
The program is being jointly sponsored by Cornell and the World Bank. Working through the Ethiopian government, Bahir Dar received a World Bank grant of $50,000 to support 20 Ethiopian students who competed for admission into the 30-credit program. Cornell is providing scholarship grants for the students’ degrees, as well as plane tickets for professors and logistical and administrative support. “There can be some surprising administrative challenges,” notes Pell, “little things like how do you register students for Fall and Spring classes in a country that doesn’t have the same seasons?”
--Paul Ruffins
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