Uzbekistan – Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Steven Darian, Professor emeritus at Rutgers University, has sent in a description of his Fulbright experience in Uzbekistan, 1997-1998. Details follow.

Steven Darian The Fulbright was for someone to teach courses in management at the Tashkent Institute of Finance. I had a keen cultural interest in Central Asia, but my Ph.D. was in Applied Linguistics, & most of my teaching dealt with the English language, with courses like applied linguistics, fiction, & non-fiction writing, I also taught an MBA course in business communication. In my Fulbright application, I stressed the fact that an American business professor teaching in a place like Tashkent would be faced with serious comprehension problems from his students, especially since management has its share of jargon and technical terms. I offered to prepare a book for management students who were also nonnative speakers of English. I was also lucky enough to have had a previous Fulbright, plus several other long-term overseas ESL teaching assignments (in Afghanistan, Saudi, & Indonesia). At any rate, the Fulbright came through, and I arrived in Tashkent with copies of the book (later published as English for Decision-Makers: A Course in Modern Management).

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Senior Academic Coordinator – UoW-WIUT Partnership, University of Westminster – Vice Chancellor’s Office (London and Tashkent, Uzbekistan). Deadline: 7 January 2018.

The University of Westminster co-founded Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) in 2002. The academic portfolio, grounded in programmes in Business Administration, Economics, Commercial Law, and Business Information Systems, has been extended to include Masters’ courses in International Business and Management, International Commercial Law and Applied Economics. WIUT as an institution has been developed on the model of a UK University and is a validated partner of the University of Westminster.

Based at the University of Westminster but with a substantial proportion of time spent in Tashkent, and reporting to the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Global Engagement, the postholder will work with UoW and WIUT colleagues to take forward the development of the partnership. The post will be of two years’ duration, in the first instance and is full time (35 hours per week) with a start date of February 2018. The post entails no line management responsibility but involves substantial work with a wide range of stakeholders, academic and administrative, at UoW and WIUT. Effective coordination across Faculties (Colleges) and Professional Services teams at UoW and across the two institutions engaged in the partnership is key to the successful execution of the role, as is the ability to produce, deliver and ensure effective monitoring of partnership development and project plans.

We are looking for a committed and talented professional, with a higher degree and substantial HE experience, including experience of programme management; project management; international partnership management; quality assurance in the international context; and effective team working. You will have excellent skills in the area of interpersonal interaction, communication and intercultural awareness; and will have strong empathy to cultural difference and diversity.