Deadline: 11-Apr-23
The U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy Yerevan announces an open competition for a cooperative agreement for a U.S. university, housing a journalism school of international stature, and an Armenian university, to establish a university partnership to create a Master of Arts (MA) degree program in Journalism and a Center for Excellence (CEJ) in Journalism in Armenia.
The initiative will advance the Embassy’s goal of bolstering the ability of independent media in Armenia to effectively inform the public, counter misinformation, and advance shared democratic values by building a pipeline of professionally trained journalists capable of producing quality journalism. The project will also facilitate lasting connections between an Armenian and American institution of higher education.
Goals
- Through the university partnership model, the goal of the Center for Excellence in Journalism will be to create a graduate degree (MA) program in Journalism in Armenia that meets international standards, as well as provide opportunities for a select number of students to participate in a summer institute (U.S. exchange program) to include an internship with a U.S. media outlet as part of their graduate study, where they can enhance their skills through an immersive, hands-on experience. Proposals that emphasize hands-on, practical training and technical skills are strongly preferable to those offering curricula with a more theoretical focus.
- Projects should be designed to achieve the following:
- Objective 1: Strengthens the Armenian higher education sector’s capacity to train the next generation of professional journalists through establishment of a U.S.-Armenian university partnership that brings U.S. best practices and standards to journalism education in Armenia.
- Objective 2: Provides an advance degree program and training for early to early-to-mid career journalists from Armenia to create a pipeline of professional journalists capable of producing quality content.
- Objective 3: Enhances access to U.S. media and professional standards for early-to-mid career journalists through inclusion of a U.S. exchange component within the graduate training program.
- Objective 4: Provides hands-on training across multiple journalism platforms, based on the latest technological standards and best-practices.
- Objective 5: Establishes a Center for Excellence as a hub for journalism leadership, fact checking, ethical standards, best practices, research, support and training, that advances knowledge of how quality journalism can serve as a bulwark against misinformation and improves networking amongst Armenia’s journalism eco-system.
Funding Information
- Total Funding: $1,185,000.00 (FY22 AEECA funding)
- Period of Performance: 36 months.
Components
- Proposals should incorporate in-person and/or virtual exchanges for students, faculty, and/or administrators, as well as the following components:
- Creation of an MA program to fund at least two academic cohorts of up to 20 Armenian graduate students per year (institutional cost sharing on tuition remission encouraged);
- Provision of scholarships for Armenian students to enroll in this program;
- Curriculum development in collaboration with the U.S. institution and sharing of U.S. best teaching practices and instructional methods (the language of instruction can be a blended model of both Armenian and English);
- Creation of joint online courses within the degree program;
- Opportunities for faculty exchange, i.e. for U.S. faculty members to teach in the Armenian graduate program or conduct collaborative research (at least one U.S. faculty member travels to Armenia during each academic semester);
- Development of a U.S. media summer internship program (four to six weeks) for up to 10 Armenian graduate students each year to expose them to American newsrooms (to be organized and hosted by the U.S. university partner);
- Establishment of a media lab/television studio for hands-on training across multiple journalism platforms (television, radio/podcast, video production and multimedia formats);
- Establishment of a Fact-Checking lab to strengthen research, teaching and initiatives to counter disinformation among journalism educators, students and journalists in the community, and to promote media literacy among young people;
- Activities (such as conferences, workshops, and networking events) that establish the Center for Excellence as a hub for journalism leadership, ethical standards, best practices, research, support and training, that address how quality journalism can serve as a bulwark against misinformation;
- Recruitment of five U.S. journalists to lead thematic workshops/training for working journalists from Armenia at the Center of Excellence in Journalism.
Eligibility Criteria
- U.S. Embassy Yerevan welcomes applications from private, public, or state institutions of higher education from Armenia and the United States. The U.S. university partner must house a journalism school of international stature and be accredited by a federally recognized accrediting agency for postsecondary education.
- Applicants must possess or be able to obtain the required certifications to be able to offer a degree program in Armenia.
For more information, visit U.S. Embassy in Armenia.