May 4, 2001

Ramapo College Professor Willliam Frech Selected As Visiting Professor In Kosovo

(Mahwah) -- William J. Frech, Ph.D., associate professor of international business and marketing at Ramapo College of New Jersey, has been selected to join 24 European and American professors to lecture in the first Kosovo Summer University (KSU). The objectives are to integrate the Kosovo higher education system into the European and American systems and to establish ongoing relationships between the University of Pristina and universities from which the faculty are drawn. The program is scheduled to run from July 16 to August 10.

Frech was selected in an international competition for the 25 teaching positions. In addition to teaching a course in international business, he will do research and co-author (along with a professor at the University of Pristina) a paper on privatization issues. He hopes the program will "sew the seeds for those in Kosovo to do business in Europe and the United States by giving students an idea of how business is conducted in other countries." Further, he explains, "I’m interested in the project for humanitarian reasons and because it will make me a better teacher here at Ramapo."

Most faculty are housed with families in Pristina. All visiting professors participate on a voluntary basis and do not receive a salary. Students in the program will include current students at the University of Pristina, international students (including American students) who apply, and the executive staff of non-governmental organizations currently working in Kosovo. Frech’s class will be taught in English with an Albanian translation.

After the recent period of severe violent conflict in Kosovo, reconstruction of all sectors of the society – industry, health care, public administration, education and non-governmental organizations – is needed. In particular, a good education system is critical to the provision of the human resources and the research upon which other sectors rely. Kosovo’s education system is suffering from not only structural damage and the loss of facilities as a result of the conflict, but also from the lack of access to up-to-date knowledge and skills, a curriculum in need of updating, isolation from the wider academic community and a brain drain.

The project is a joint initiative of the University of Pristina in Kosovo and the Academic Training Association, which is headquartered in Amsterdam. The KSU is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Open Society Institute.