VTMENA Title Slide

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VT-MENA Title Slide
Virginia Tech Middle East and North Africa
Graduate Program Hosted by Arab Academy for Scie
nce and Technology
Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt
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VT-MENA Program Overview
VT Graduate Program in the MENA region (Egypt)
Middle East and North Africa Hosted in Egypt by A
AST Arab Academy for Science Technology VT deg
rees VT admission, VT courses, VT faculty,
(VT controls all academic issues)
AAST Host and local administration
AAST charges AAST tuition and pays VT a Fixed
Cost contract (Sponsored Programs).
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VT-MENA Overview (contd)
A new program treated as a VT Extended Campus
Same VT curriculum and academic standards to
insure same program quality and reputation as in
US Students treated the same as other off-site st
udents (e.g. National Capital region NoVA)
A capacity-building (sabbatical) component to
create VT Adjunct faculty based in Egypt. This
helps take the load off the Blacksburg campus
faculty.
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VT-MENA - Who Will Do It?
All Program Faculty will be affiliated with VT
VT faculty who travel to Egypt for finite
periods Teach Course 6 weeks Research Adv
ising Trips 1-2 weeks Adjunct faculty from Egyp
t/MENA region Adjuncts spend sabbatical semes
ter in Blacksburg Support staff at AAST for progr
am administration and logistics
Students from the MENA region / Exchange from US
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Program Disciplines
Master and Doctoral Programs First Phase Electri
cal Engineering (Communications)
Computer Engineering Computer Science Later Ph
ases Other Degree Programs (Other Engineering dis
ciplines, Business, etc.)
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VT-MENA Degrees
Masters (20, 1½ ½, or 11)
Masters requirements can be completed at AAST
Some Masters student may come to US for a
semester or more Doctoral Programs (13, 22, or
31) Primarily, courses and feasible research at
AAST Specialized courses and research at VT-USA
Require residency at VT-USA (min 1 yr)
Ph. D. Qualifying Examination _at_ VT-MENA
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Sabbatical Program
MENA-faculty on Sabbatical in Blacksburg will
Teach relevant courses Enroll in faculty develop
ment workshops such as VT Faculty Development
Institute (FDI) Gain familiarity with VT instruct
ional / research activities Develop acquaintances
and personal relationships with his/her peers on
campus Yield additional support to VT research g
roup Open doors for continued collaboration and e
stablish long-term bonds that will help sustain
the program.
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VT-MENA Financial Information
All VT-MENA program expenses are covered by the
sponsor (AAST) AAST Student tuition and other a
cademic sponsorships pay for expenses. (handled
by AAST)
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Program Format
For Traveling US-based faculty
6 week condensed semester 75 minutes lectures, 5
days/week 95 (93.75) minutes lectures, 4 days/wee
k (long weekends) MENA-based faculty distance l
ectures Regular VT full semester schedule Tradi
tional f2f instruction (MENA VT Adjuncts)
VT OnLine courses (US-Based Faculty)
Video Conference courses (US-Based Faculty)
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VT-MENA Governance
US-based Project Director Sedki Riad
MENA-based Associate Director Yasser Hanafy
Dean, College of Computing and Information, AAST,
also VT Adjunct VT-Management Supervision Team
Jim Thorp, ECE Bill Tranter, ECE Dennis
Kafura, CS Glenda Scales, CoE Tom Wilkinson, IDD
L, office of Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Roger Avery, Grad School S.K. DeDatta, office of
Vice Provost for Outreach Intl Affairs
Hassan Aref, Co-PI Hudnal Croasdale, Co-PI, offic
e of Vice President for Info. Technology
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VT-MENA Teaching
Prefer Interactive Video Mode Use DLI (Adjunct Fa
culty)

Buyout from Dept By Volunteering ONLY

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Proposed Classes (Preliminary)
Blue Font Offered Fall 05
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VT-MENA a Win-Win Program
VT wins enhanced reputation access to top PhD
students. VT wins a sponsored program with facu
lty buyout and returned overhead.
MENA students win new degree opportunities.
MENA faculty win new professional development
opportunities. MENA region wins, by having the
VT program and reducing cost of graduate
missions. Everyone wins by unforeseen interacti
ons that this program will create.