Description

Purpose of Grant:                               For the Virtual Federal University project.   Amount Recommended:                   A one-year grant of $100,000.   Summary:                                            Established in May 2021 by Myanmar students and educators in response to the February 1 st military coup, Virtual Federal University (VFU) is a free education platform developed by and for a generation of learners collectively rethinking global education in the wake of rising authoritarianism and democratic crisis.  An organization self-described as “Crisis-Response Education,” VFU is currently led by an elected Interim Steering Committee of international Myanmar scholars and run by a team of about 25 volunteers drawn from the community of students, scholars and researchers whose work and studies have been disrupted by the junta’s crackdown on public universities and their faculty, who are now searching for alternative ways to ensure that a generation of Myanmar youth is not lost to the country’s political turmoil.  VFU has piloted a “multiple modes” system to deliver courses in multiple languages through a website, community radio stations, and digital forums, connecting global content with local audiences while meeting the evolving challenges of internet restrictions and state surveillance.  In partnership with Princeton University colleagues, VFU has, with creativity, resilience and a student-centered approach, built on experience with post-pandemic remote teaching to recruit instructors, screen applicants, and arrange accredited partnerships to facilitate seminar and course development, translation and communication services, certification processes, a peer review system and mentoring relationships.  Courses offered to date have covered topics from “Race and Caste” and “Southeast Asia and the Cold War” to “Intro to Molecular Biology” and “Global History.”   Support from the Luce Foundation would assist VFU’s development of an enhanced digital infrastructure for this new experiment in transnational education.  Planned work includes establishing new models of delivery and data security to ensure student and faculty safety; expanding outreach to rural and remote areas, with particular attention to ethnic minorities; developing a fellowship program to connect Myanmar and U.S. students and educators in content co-creation and conversation; and institutionalization of a governance structure to sustain efforts. The education sector is a critical arena for democracy and federalism efforts in Myanmar. VFU’s response to the challenges of designing classrooms, curricula and pedagogy across ethnic, cultural and geographic divides and national borders will contribute to rethinking higher education for the country.  Its strategy and vision will help expand imaginative capacity to envision new structures and processes for social relations. The requested grant would support general operating costs. American Friends of Prospect Burma will serve as fiscal sponsor for this project. Recommendation:                  That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a one-year grant of $100,000 to American Friends of Prospect Burma to provide general support for the Virtual Federal University project.   https://www.federaluniversity.org/   https://prospectburma.org/american-friends/