2007 Activities

The International Higher Education Support Program (HESP) launched the Research Initiative for China in 2007 to provide two-year fellowships for doctoral students and young academics based in the Inner Mongolia and the autonomous Xinjiang Uygur regions of China. The fellowships focus on developing teaching and learning about the cultures and societies of national minority groups in each region. Building upon its previous effort to give Afghan women access to higher education, HESP pledged to support three more entering classes of 10 undergraduate female students from Afghanistan to study at the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan. HESP has provided support for some 40 Afghan students, both men and women.

In Russia, HESP pledged important financial support for endowment campaigns at the European University at St. Petersburg and Smolny College at St. Petersburg State University. HESP pledged up to $5 million per institution in matching funds for the general endowments, which are expected to cover student scholarships and faculty development.