Ball State will receive a $1 million grant from the U.S. State Department to help a university in Afghanistan develop a program emphasizing free market principles and entrepreneurship in its new College of Economics.
Ball State faculty members of the Ball State Center for Entrepreneurship will work with Kandahar University to create courses in entrepreneurship.
The purpose of the grant is to provide Afghanistan with added economic development opportunities, Richard Boyum, the State Department's university linkages and program evaluation coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan said in a statement.
"Kandahar University is in an area that is ripe for economic development," Boyum said. "Ball State has an opportunity to help Kandahar fulfill its potential as an engine of economic growth in the southern region, an area that is vital to Afghanistan's political and economic future."
The Ball State career center will also work with Kandahar University to create a career development center to give students more opportunities for internships and employment.
Mollie Fout, director of the Ball State Career Center, said the collaboration between Ball State and Kandahar University will help the economy generate employment opportunities for the youth.
"I feel it's a wonderful opportunity to build capacity and promote education and help individual citizens improve their opportunities," she said.
Fout will work with staff from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to develop a training model for Kandahar University.
Additionally, faculty from Ball State's Intensive English Institute will work with Kandahar University to improve the English language proficiency of its faculty and students.
Earlier this year Ball State received a $1 million grant from the U.S. State Department so that the university could work with Tikrit University in Iraq to develop a more student-centered curriculum.
Ball State professors will teach courses in English, accounting and computer science to 25 of Tikrit University's top sophomore students from each academic area. Fout said the Career Center is also working with Tikrit University.
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