William Wechsler was selected to receive the 2009 KAEF Research Grant. He will be affiliated with the American University of Kosovo (AUK) and he will travel to Kosovo in the summer of 2009. Professor Wechsler’s research will focus on the economic, legal, and regulatory environment for foreign investment/joint ventures in Kosovo.

According to Professor Wechsler,

Establishing appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks that can be understood and relied upon by international investors is essential to the successful operation and development of transitional economies. Kosovo needs to enhance commercial regulatory and enforcement mechanisms, particularly to encourage North American and Western European investment. My proposal will be to compare the situation in Kosovo to those existing in Czechoslovakia and Hungary (and perhaps ultimately Poland and the Baltics) during the transitions from Communism.

Congratulations to William Wechsler.

Dastid Pallaska (KAEF 07, Yale Law School 08) took a different path than most KAEF graduates. Whereas many fellows on the KAEF program arrange for post-degree Practical Training with U.S. companies and organizations, Dastid decided to look a little closer to home.  In spite of offers for positions with New York, Washington DC, and Chicago law firms as well as with the Northern District of Illinois District Court, he took a position of Counsel with Wolf Theiss, a Vienna based international law firm, where he coordinates cross-border litigation for the firm’s 10 offices in SEE/CEE and handles white collar crime cases as well as arbitration.

The Practical Training program allows KAEF fellows to stay in the U.S. for up to a year after their graduation to get work experience in their chosen field. Typically it’s done in the United States, but Dastid wanted to work in a legal setting that would give him experience useful to his future plans in Kosovo.  Vienna was, in this context, a much better fit.

Dastid is also involved in building and strengthening the firm’s litigation practice group in its SEE/CEE offices. Moreover, he is engaged in business development by facilitating the firm’s expansion into the Kosovar market. According to Dastid, this position enables him to build bridges between foreign investors seeking to enter the Kosovo market and local businesses that need the investment and the know-how. While describing the economic potential of Kosovo, Dastid says that Kosovo can serve as a hub for an emerging joint market that includes Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. In this respect he notes that “interest is growing as companies learn more about Kosovo and as we slowly combat the myths surrounding the country – the myths of instability and ineffective institutions.”

Prior to joining Wolf Theiss Dastid built his own law firm in Kosovo, Pallaska&Associates, which has since been on the forefront of the emerging field of intellectual property law.  “Before, international companies registered their trademarks in Belgrade. Following the declaration of Kosovo’s independence, most, if not all, of the ten to fifteen thousand trademarks have been transferred to Kosovo”. According to Dastid, due to the lack of intellectual property rights protections in Kosovo until 2008, the degree of trademark infringement is very high, which is why he now expects international companies to begin enforcing their intellectual property rights. In this regard Dastid (Pallaska&Associates) initiated the first, and the only, trademark infringement litigation case in the history of Kosovo’s justice system.

Besides intellectual property law, Dastid’s firm is also specialized in commercial law as well as regulatory law with a specific focus on telecommunications and energy.

Dastid’s ultimate goal is to return to the public sector and help usher Kosovo into the stream of Western democracies by strengthening its justice institutions.

Having heard from both of the consultants in our thought experiment, we can now step back and evaluate the points that they raised.  Here are some conclusions that, it seems to me, we are warranted to make:

1. Technical training is obviously necessary.  You need workers with a basic level of training in order to ensure the quality of your product and the efficiency with which it is produced.
2. Is technical training enough?  Though is it necessary, is it sufficient?  My initial impulse is to say no.  Regardless of the quality of your widget, you still need to research new widgets, sell existing widgets, evaluate opportunities and risks, etc.  These tasks require a different sort of expertise.
3. A company that focused exclusively on technical training would risk becoming obsolete as new products and approaches were developed by competitors.
4. We should not be too bothered by our inability to measure “management” performance accurately.  This inability is due to the complexity of these tasks that constitute “management,” and more specifically to the number of externalities that effect the management process (such as the actions of competitors).
5. The proportion of resources devoted to technical and management training will differ based upon the company / organization in question, but rarely should it be 100%/0% in either direction.

Now, how does this thought experiment apply to a country as a whole?  It should be obvious that the distinction between technical and management training applies – albeit loosely – to the division between primary/secondary education and higher education.  In truth, of course, primary and secondary education involves training for “management,” and higher education involves “technical training” – but by in large we can think of primary / secondary education as providing the basic skills needed to “produce” within an economy, and higher education as providing the analytical tools to answer questions about what to produce and how to produce it.

If the analogy holds, then it follows that a country that relies solely on improving primary and secondary education may not profit from doing so:  though they will have the human capital to be successful, they will lack the managers and institutions to make good decisions about how to employ that capital in a rapidly changing global environment.

So – we’ve seen, through our thought experiment, that a mixture of technical and management skills are needed by a business – and, via a loose analogy, by a nation.   It still remains to be seen whether graduate-level education is the best way to provide those management skills.  We’ll take up that topic tomorrow.

Other posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five
• Part Six
• Part Seven
• Part Eight

Many of the readers of this blog assume – correctly, in most instances – that attending a graduate school program in the United States will be beneficial for their own career.  Is there reason to believe that your graduate-level education abroad would be beneficial to your country as well?

Over the next two weeks we’ll be investigating this question in greater depth, and delving into many of the complicated questions surrounding a nation’s political and economic development.  At the outset, let me offer this sure-to-be-qualified hypothesis:

The education of future economic and political leaders abroad in graduate-level programs is a necessary (but not sufficient) step in any country’s continued economic and political development.

I italicized the word any because the provision of graduate-level education to an economy’s “managers” seems to me to be just as important for the so-called “developed” world as it is for the so-called “developing” world.  This is not one of those development topics where we can draw a clear line between countries that “have” a resource and countries that do not “have” it, and have to be instructed on how to “get” it.  This is for the simple reason that a person’s intellectual capacity can not survive their own death; therefore, each generation must be educated anew.  An infant in the United States does not have more management skills than an infant in the so-called “developing world.”  Those skills must, in both cases, arise through an educational process.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll see how including a graduate school education in that process can lead to positive outcomes not only for the individuals who are the subject of that education, but also for their broader society.

Other posts in this series:

• Introduction
• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four
• Part Five
• Part Six
• Part Seven
• Part Eight
• Part Nine
• Part Ten
• Part Eleven
• Part Twelve
• Part Thirteen
• Part Fourteen
• Conclusion

In the midst of the financial crisis, I’m sure that some of you are wondering whether the KAEF Endowment, which funds the KAEF Graduate Fellowship Program, is secure.

I’m very pleased to report that yes, in fact, it is.  The U.S. KAEF Committee, tasked with, among other things, steering the investment decisions for the endowment, did its job remarkably well.  Although the market changes daily and figures are fluid, as of today the KAEF Endowment has not lost any significant value (less than one-half of one percent of its value).  To put that in perspective:

• the Harvard endowment has lost 8.1 billion dollars in the financial crisis, losing 22 percent of its value between June and October.
• Yale’s endowment has shrunk 25% since the summer

The fact that KAEF has weathered the financial storm is an enormous compliment to our U.S. steering committee and their financial acumen.  It’s also a sign that KAEF is here to stay.

For the first time since KAEF’s inception in 2004 – and thanks in large part to the generosity of our partners, including Ekrem Lluka, Dukagjini, Birra Peja, Meridian, ProCredit Bank, MDA Associates and the Kosovo Bankers’ Accociation – we will be seriously considering adding new fields of study to the KAEF program for the 2009 application.

We have discussed with a number of our partners in Kosovo the question of what fields to add, and we have received a variety of responses.  We also want to solicit the feedback of potential applicants.  So, here’s the question:  What fields of study do you think should be added to the KAEF program, and why?

Give us your feedback in the comments section of this blog post.  We’ll include all comments in the materials we use in the official discussion of the fields of study, which should happen in the spring.  We’ll also publish your comments here, in the hope of sparking some lively discussion.

We’re not 100% sure we’ll be adding any fields, but if we get a sense that a particular field is in high demand by applicants and others, that will be a strong argument in favor of adding it.

If you need help making comments, go to this post on how to use the blog.

Thanks ahead of time for your feedback!

Since its inception in early September, the KAEF blog has officially had one hundred posts.  Over that time, we’ve had 3,655 visitors to the blog.  We are proud to have shared with our readers information regarding the KAEF program and the US system of graduate education.

For those of you who are new to the blog, we thought this would be a good time to review what we’ve covered, and to provide you with some information about how you can become a part of the next 100 posts.  For those of you who are regular readers, please – share this post with your friends or colleagues.

So, since September, the KAEF blog has:

• profiled the experiences of KAEF alumni and current Fellows Seb Bytyçi, Edona Pacarada, Fortuna Haxhikadrija, Nita Gojani, Luan Dalipi, and Emira Talovic.
• provided extensive tips on how to do well in a professional or academic interview, including posts on confidence, preparation, correct answers to interview questions, interview “dos and dont’s”, the process interviewers use to construct their questions, paying attention to the small details of an interview (such as dress, manner of speaking, etc.), common interview formats, and the purpose of the interview in a selection process.
• shared resources for improving your standardized testing scores and writing a winning resume and personal statement.
• passed on information about getting into graduate or scholarship programs (not only KAEF), with posts on why graduate schools care about professional experience, graduate school rankings, the structure of the U.S. university system, the financial benefits of getting an advanced degree, a report of the number of Kosovars studying in the U.S., the impacts of the financial crisis on international student aid, and information about the life of graduate students; along with tons of links to useful sites.
• listed some valuable books and websites, including the best American business books and the best U.S. political websites.
• opened a small window onto American culture, with posts on a variety of subjects, including Columbus Day, A Prairie Home Companion (one of America’s most popular radio programs), American football’s ties to the university system, the baseball playoffs, and America’s vaunted research institutes.
• given valuable information about applying to the KAEF program, including a detailed application timeline and tips for getting your application in on time.

In short, we’re working extremely hard to provide you with as much information as possible about opportunities for you to increase your education in the U.S.  And we’re sharing some information about America while we’re at it.  If you’re new to the blog or have questions about how best to use it, check out our post, “How to use the KAEF Blog.”

Thanks to all of our readers for a fantastic first three months.  We are confident that the audience and usefulness of the blog will grow with time!

Seb Bytyçi (KAEF ‘07, Indiana University) is managing the Kosovo Transparency Initiative (KTI) project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kosovo. “This project focuses on supporting the Kosovo institutions, civil society and media to work for a more transparent administration,” says Seb.  “This is key for the Kosovar economy because corruption causes many losses to the private sector and damages the whole economy.  KTI has had a direct impact in terms of developing capacities of young Kosovars who are willing to make a change in their society.”

Seb was always interested in working on the pressing issues facing Kosovo.  His time on the KAEF program sharpened his focus and advanced his career.  “The KAEF program helped me achieve some of my goals faster.  Having a graduate degree from a prestigious university in the USA is a great asset at a time when Kosovo needs young professionals to help build a functioning state, economy and civil society.  The KAEF program does not just mean you get top level education, it also means you get invaluable experience by living and working in one of the most dynamic places on earth. It gives you a chance to better understand the challenges it takes to succeed in your career regardless of the environment.”

Although he thoroughly enjoyed his time on the program, he did go through a period of cultural adjustment.  “The humidity during the summer surprised me at first. Kosovo has a more dry climate.  And I was also surprised by the fact that many parts of the US are very conservative.  Here’s one example:  in Indiana and some other states,  you can not buy alcohol on Sundays.  As someone coming from Kosovo where such bans don’t exist, I was surprised to find them in the US.”

Seb became the very first KAEF alumnus to return to Kosovo in the Spring of 2006.  He never had any doubts about coming back.    “Kosovar students have the highest return rate for these kind of scholarship programs.  I think that is because they feel more connected to their homeland, especially because of the special times that Kosovo is going through.”

Having been the “first” to apply to KAEF, the first to participate in it, and the first to return from it, Seb has some good advice for prospective applicants:  “You shouldn’t be afraid to apply. You should not worry too much about your level of English knowledge or about the difficulty of living in the States. You don’t have to speak perfect English and you don’t have to have lived in another country before to make it.”

We heartily congratulate Seb – our very first KAEF alumnus – on all of his success!

Washington, D.C, November 17, 2008 – American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS is pleased to announce the presentation of a major gift from the Kosovo-based Meridian Corporation for its Kosovo American Education Fund (KAEF). Meridian is generously donating 5,000 EUR (approximately $6,303 USD). Hakif Gashi, Meridian Corporation’s president, is a leader in the Kosovo community, and this special funding commitment to support the country’s development of intellectual capital will help to ensure Kosovo’s vibrant economic future.

The Kosovo American Education Fund (KAEF) is a perpetual education fund dedicated to providing promising Kosovars with a master’s level education at select American universities. KAEF provides future leaders of Kosovo with the tools they need to promote the country’s economic development. KAEF fellows obtain degrees in critical areas such as finance, management, law, and business administration, and return to their country to contribute their expertise to the growth of a thriving, dynamic society. The fund supports eight full two-year scholarships for young Kosovars each year. The KAEF program was initiated by a grant from USAID in 2004.

Mr. Gashi, in speaking about his gift, said: “It is a pleasure to offer my support of the KAEF program. I strongly believe that my donation was the right decision, and it is a great feeling for me that I can help the people of my country that have a positive vision for the future.”

“American Councils is very pleased with the Meridian Corporation’s very generous gift to advance the educational mission of KAEF in supporting the professional development of young Kosovars. Their generosity is a model of philanthropic leadership ? both in the United States and in Kosovo,” said Dan E. Davidson, president of American Councils.

Meridian Corporation (http://www.meridian-ks.com/) is one of the largest food distributing companies of food, beverages, and organic, fresh, and frozen products in Kosovo. Meridian serves a broad range of customers, including independent and mass market retail chains, supermarkets, drugstores, and the hotel, restaurant, and cafeteria sector. With access to over 4,000 vendors, Meridian provides healthy foods, beverages, meat products and other dairy, while promoting environmental responsibility and the health and well-being of Kosovo’s communities. Meridian Corporation has launched many product brands in the Kosovo market, including San Pellegrino, Beck’s, Miller, Aspis, Zagori, Segafredo, Rauch, Doux, and Teekanne. Also under Meridian Corporation’s umbrella are the companies MC Montazh, which works on construction projects, and MC Energoinvest, a producer of transformer stations for the industrial, mobile, and electric sectors.

American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS (http://www.americancouncils.org), an international not-for-profit organization, develops innovative strategies for the advancement of international education through the support of international research, the design of innovative programs, and the exchange of students, scholars, and professionals around the world.  With a presence in the U.S., the nations of Southeastern Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East, and Asia, American Councils contributes through its activities to the development of new perspectives, mutual understanding, and tolerance among diverse peoples.  In collaboration with partners at home and abroad, our dedicated team of 375 professionals designs and implements innovative and effective educational programs responsive to the cultures and needs of the international communities in which we work. Founded in 1974 as an association for area and language professionals, American Councils has focused its expertise on academic exchange, professional training, distance learning, curriculum and test development, delivery of technical assistance, research, evaluation, and institution building.