Grants

Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program Alumni are eligible for the SCOUT Course Development Grant Program, administered jointly by OSI’s Network Scholarship Programs & International Higher Education Support Program.

The goal of the SCOUT Course Development Program is to assist Western-trained professionals in applying their knowledge and experience towards promoting the values of open society, rule of law, market economy, and democracy among students, professionals, and community leaders, and in linking their professional activities with university-level instruction. The Program supports the alumni of Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program who have primary vocations outside academia in their home countries, but are interested in developing and delivering courses at institutions of higher education or post-diploma training and retraining.

The duration of the grant is one full academic semester; the grantee is required to develop and deliver at least one university course.

The Course Development Grants provide the recipients with the following benefits*:

• Stipend during grant period;
• Supplement for purchasing books and other teaching and reference materials;
• Supplement for creating and photocopying readers and other course materials;
• Supplement for subscribing to electronic mail/Internet services;
• Eligibility to apply for funding for organizing and implementing outreach projects;
• Inclusion in an extensive network of Western and Western-educated scholars throughout Central/Eastern Europe and the NIS.

*The package of benefits for individual grants will be defined by the selection committee, based on the qualifications of the applicants and the nature of their academic involvement.

Eligibility Criteria and Application Process

Only those applicants who started their Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowships in 2004 and completed them successfully in 2006 are eligible. They should hold a part-time teaching position (or have an official confirmation of such part-time teaching position) starting with the beginning of the academic semester for which the application is submitted) at a university-level institution or an institution providing post-university training or retraining in one of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine. The position should be related to the area of study of the applicant’s Muskie Fellowship. Applicants should be interested in involvement in a wide range of outreach activities with the students, local faculty, and community. Preference will be given to applicants from the Academic Fellowship Program (AFP) partner departments.

* Members of staff of OSI, American Councils, other organizations directly involved in the SCOUT or any other Muskie/ FSA alumni support program supervision or administration, and individuals holding similar grants or fellowships supporting their academic activity, which overlap in time with the proposed SCOUT grant activity, are not eligible to receive any SCOUT program grants.

A list of AFP partner departments are available for download below or from AFP country/regional offices.