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Inayet Hadi, MPA -
 Experience overview as a Graduate Fellows at the Kabul University Institute of Public Policy and Administration with the Afghan eQuality Alliances program during the summer of 2007.
Overall description of the AeQA program
The Afghan eQuality Alliances (AeQA) program is a cooperative agreement between Washington State University (WSU) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The agreement is for five years (2006-2011) withUSAID funding estimated at twelve million dollars and about four million dollars of costsharing from alliance partners.The AeQA program is aimed at building alliances with public and privateorganizations to help achieve its primary goal of guaranteeing, “equal access to qualityeducation and e-educational resources” (Washington State University Center to Bridgethe Digital Divide (WSU CBDD, 2007a, para. 1). The AeQA program will work with 19higher education institutions in Afghanistan to achieve its goal and implement its definedfour key objectives in partnership with alliances formed through memorandum of agreements (MoA’s) .The four key objectives of the AeQA program are (1) improving skills andleadership of 19 higher education institutions to meet standards of excellence and qualityassurance, (2) improve skills to sustain services for the Afghans Next GenerationeLearning (ANGeL) Center for Teaching and Learning [ANGeL CTL], (3) improvingskills of lecturers to upgrade their curriculum and course syllabus in key academic areas,and (4) to strengthen Kabul University and Civil Service Institute to build capacity in public policy and administration (para. 1)Inayet Hadi1
 
Under the forth objective,
 
AeQA initiated and is managing the Kabul UniversityInstitute of Public Policy and Administration (KU IPPA) on behalf of the KU DeputyChancellor for Academic Affairs, who is responsible for the IPPA project. The IPPA project, from now on known as “the Institute,” is a collaborative effort involvingaccredited universities from Japan, India, and the United States to send a professor eachmonth to Kabul University to teach an intensive course. The weeklong course lasts for sixdays from 1pm to 6pm with the final exam being administered during the last day.Afterwards, the students are required to use the Afghan Next Generation eLearning(ANGeL) software to complete assignments online, participate in discussion forums, andvideoconference with their professors living in Japan, India, or the U.S.This report details my involvement with and reflections on the Institute.
 Structure & Functions of the Institute?
The Institute’s goal is to “foster a common commitment to public service aimed atimproving the lives of all Afghans” (WSU CBDD, 2007b, para. 2). To achieve this goalrequires a cadre of Afghan lecturers, trainers, and other civil servants who have theknowledge and skills developed through a mix of short and long-term professionaleducational programs. The following courses have already been taught at the Institute:Public Administration: Theory and Practice; Public Policy Formulation: Planning andAnalysis; and Human Resources Management in the Public Sector. The second year of the program will offer concentrations in the following areas: Policy and Regulation;Development Studies; Urban, Regional, Environmental Planning; Peace Building andConflict Resolution; and International Relations and Diplomacy. A select group of Inayet Hadi2
 
students enrolled in the Institute will be sent to study abroad to complete their Master  program at partnering universities.A traditional hierarchically administrative structure has not been established for the Institute. There are many valid reasons as to why this has not happened. First, this isthe first year of the first Master program in public policy and administration in Afghanhistory. As a consequence, there are no previous administrative structure models for theInstitute to use. The administrative structures of the foreign universities graduate programwill be studied in order localize them to Afghanistan’s experiences and realities.The second reason for not having an established administrative structure at theInstitute is that Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education is currently going throughadministrative structural reforms, through the Priority Reform and Restructuring (
PRR 
) process (I. R. of Afghanistan Ministry of Higher Education, 2007, 12). The final reasonfor the Institute not having an administrative structure is that the Institute is acollaborative effort organized by the AeQA program in partnerships with foreignaccredited universities along with Afghan higher educational institutions and governmentinstitutions. Besides, the Institute’s permanent administrative structure is impractical toestablish in this early stage because the Institute is built on alliances based in differentcountries and time zones.Based upon my conversation with the deputy chief of party and the chief of partyfor the AeQA program, the formal head of the Institute is Dr Saifi, the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. The management of the Institute is organized, led, and funded by theAeQA program. The student coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the Institute is inInayet Hadi3
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