Boston University’s Office of Government and Community Affairs hosted 10 administrators from Albanian universities Friday to discuss strategies for building relations with city officials and share BU’S experiences with other developing schools worldwide.
The trip, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, acquainted the Albanian officials to the American educational system, and for half of the officials was their first trip to America, according to WorldBoston, the non-profit group that organizes the visits for the U.S. government.
WorldBoston arranges 500 similar trips every year, according to WorldBoston International Visitor Program Director Kate Harvey, and close to 60 percent of groups come to BU.
“We send a lot of them to BU,” Harvey said. “Boston University is such a diverse pool of experience. It is a large urban university, which is particularly helpful, and we have close relationships with faculty.”
Albania is currently looking at educational reform, Harvey said, and all 10 educators were recently appointed to their posts.
The educators “face significant challenges in leading their respective institutions away from a highly centralized system to one that affords more independence, autonomy and flexibility to meet changing conditions and demands,” she said.
Sezai Rrokaj, a top administrator at the University of Tirana, Albania’s largest university, said BU’s commitment and contact with the city of Boston impressed him.
“We are happy to be here and happy to be at a university that is so close to its community,” Rrokaj said through a translator after the meeting. “We entered here in the best meaning of the word. I was impressed with the relations with your state, your city and your community. If your university did not have these ties, it would be a pity.”
Rrokaj and his nine companions, including businessmen, professors in mathematics, geography and philosophy and a former member of parliament, reached Boston late Thursday night. After meeting with Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Edward King and several other staff members Friday morning, they were allowed to briefly wander around Boston before driving to Franklin Olin College of Engineering in Needham.
“Boston University provides them with a big university perspective,” Harvey said. “Olin gives them a different look at community building. Because it’s only a few years old, they can talk about the process of curriculum development and accreditation.”
The different meetings allow the visitors to learn from a range of institutions, she said.
“They will only be in Boston for one day, which is unusual,” Harvey said. “We like to have them here for three or four days … Any more than that and they tend to get tired of traveling.”
The exchange program started in 1961, when Foreign Service officials began targeting mid- to upper-level and upcoming leaders in various fields with the passage of the Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act, according to BU International Visitors Program Director Elizabeth Shannon.
Today, the program has developed a regular routine. After recognizing foreign officials’ talent, American embassies send candidates’ names to the U.S. State Department for consideration. The State Department selects several of the nominees to visit the United States and meet with American leaders in their fields.
Hundreds of the guests are directed to WorldBoston and a majority is then referred to Shannon.
“They can be in any field and they are,” she said. “They are filmmakers, historians, fashion designers … whatever their field is, I read their profiles and find a faculty member which fits their interests.”
Many of the guests come from former communist nations, according to Harvey, because the United States wants to build stronger relationships with those countries while moving them away from their dictatorial past.
“Through exposure to the U.S. experience with higher education and current trends in educational reform, it is hoped the participants in this project will acquire additional perspective toward leading their institutions,” a WorldBoston document states.
One program Shannon said BU is preparing for is a “multi-regional” visit with English as a Second Language professors from Algeria, Egypt, Ghana and Italy.
“These visit are not only productive for our guests – it is interesting for the hosts as well,” she said. “An interesting part of the program is the people who are chosen often become future leaders in their home country.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel have both been participants in the International Visitors Program – though not both in Boston.
The Albanian administrators said their visit will help build strong relations with their communities at home and with the United States.
“It was good to see what the university has planned for the future, and hopefully we can share that future,” Rrokaj said. “Students of this university should be proud to be at this university.”