5-29-96
Contacts:
David Topel, College of Agriculture, (515) 294-2518
Mary de Baca, College of Agriculture, (515) 294-1851
Steve Jones, News Service, (515) 294-4778
ISU REVIEW OF UKRAINIAN CURRICULA LEADS TO AGREEMENT
AMES, Iowa -- A new agreement between Iowa State University and the National Agricultural University of Ukraine (NAUU) will ease the way for Ukrainian students to enter several ISU undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
ISU agriculture, veterinary medicine and business faculty members and Ukrainian officials worked for more than two years reviewing and revising the Ukrainian curricula, making it more comparable to U.S. academic programs, said David Topel, dean of the College of Agriculture.
"Now that we know the general content of the Ukrainian courses, we have a much better understanding of the Ukrainian students' academic preparation," Topel said. "It will make it much easier for them to be accepted at ISU as transfer or graduate students."
Curricular changes are desired by Ukrainian officials because they want to upgrade their academic programs and standardize them with U.S. universities, explained Mary de Baca, manager of the program called the ISU-NAUU Linkage Project. The work was funded by a U.S. Information Agency grant.
"The Ukrainians view the curricular review as a major accomplishment and a step toward Westernizing their agricultural curricula," de Baca said. She added that almost all of the Ukrainian curricula were reviewed by selected ISU faculty members.
The agreement also enables Iowa State students wanting to spend a semester at the Ukrainian university to transfer academic credits back to ISU.
Iowa State officials do not know how many National Agricultural University students will come to ISU. It's anticipated those studying at ISU will either have completed two or three years of study before transferring, or will be entering a graduate degree program.
The National Agricultural University has had a formal relationship with ISU for six years. About 150 ISU and Ukrainian students and faculty members have participated in four exchange programs since 1990. The curricula review and subsequent agreement is an outgrowth of the exchanges, Topel explained.
ISU academic departments involved in the agreement include accounting, agricultural and biosystems engineering, agricultural education and studies, agronomy, animal science, economics, finance, forestry, plant pathology and veterinary medicine.
The National Agricultural University of Ukraine is located in Kiev, the nation's capital. About 12,000 students are enrolled on campus or in correspondence study. The university is the lead institution for about 20 higher education agricultural schools in Ukraine.
ISU and Ukrainian officials signed the agreement May 6.
-30-
Diana Pounds, University Relations, dpounds@iastate.edu
Iowa State homepage
Copyright © 1996, Iowa State University, all rights
reserved
URL: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/releases/ukraine.html
Revised
5/30/96