Dr. Dorey Diab, President of North Central State College, recently completed a two-week Community College Administrators Seminar in Russia as a one of six community college administrators from the United States. Participants were selected by The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board in Washington D.C.
The seminar was completed between April 1 through April 15, 2017. Participants visited Nizhniy Novgorod State Pedagogical University in Nizhniy Novogorod, the Semyonov College of Technology, Industry and Arts in Semyonov, the Vladimir Medical College (College of Nursing) in Vladimir, the Nizhniy Novgorod College of Olympic Reserve School, Vladimir State University in Vladimir-Suzdal, and the Yaroslavl Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Yaroslavl. In addition, participants toured manufacturing facilities and discussed partnerships with vocational educational institutes.
The seminar culminated in Moscow. The Moscow portion of the itinerary began with a tour of the three campuses of the First Moscow Educational Complex where they visited multiple departments which specialized in numerous vocational careers.
While in Moscow, Dr. Diab also took part in a panel discussion at EducationUSA Russia, Why Community Colleges Might be the Best Choice After High School. The audience was comprised of high school students interested in pursuing their college education in the United States.
On the final day in Moscow, the Fulbright contingent visited the 2017 Moscow International Education Fair (MIEF). The Fair is a platform for dialogue between educators, experts, government and business on current and future agenda of the education system. The MIEF’s objectives are numerous and include integration of the Russian education agenda and the international market of education services, provision of grounds for interaction between the suppliers and consumers of education services, for sharing of experiences and development of professional communities as well as demonstration of opportunities for lifelong learning and building of new connections between the education system and the labor market.
The MIEF includes eight clusters, each focused on separate education area or stage: Preschool Education, Secondary Education, Additional Education, Vocational Education, Higher Education, Special Needs Education, Lifelong Learning and State Policy. Among the MIEF’s special projects are Career Guidance, Advanced Professional Training for Educators, International Education and Vocational Education Programs.
Honored to participate as a Fulbright International Administrator through the U.S. State Department Fulbright program, Diab enjoyed seeing the differences and the similarities in the needs of Russian students, “We spend a lot of time working with local business and industry to meet the needs of our local workforce. But the reality is that businesses in our area compete globally today, and the students who graduate from NC State need to be prepared to compete with employees from around the world. We need to step up our game; or our students, graduates and businesses will fall behind.”
