Description

Purpose of grant:                         For a program to support students and scholars from Myanmar. Amount recommended:                 A one-year grant of $150,000. Summary:                               The Asia Program recommends an urgent needs grant to the Institute of International Education to assist students and scholars from Myanmar now at-risk in the aftermath of the February 2021 military coup. IIE has long experience in helping to build Myanmar’s higher education capacity. As part of this broader initiative, for example, HLF provided it two grants, in 2013 and 2015, for a training program in Myanmar on establishing and managing an international relations office on university campuses.  With the military’s occupation of campuses and student/faculty boycotts of public universities, Myanmar’s higher education is now in crisis. A grant would allow IIE’s Scholar Rescue Fund to expand its support of scholars from Myanmar experiencing critical threats to their lives and academic work, enabling one or two scholars to resume their teaching and/or research in safe locations. Each would receive a $25,000 fellowship grant (matched or exceeded by the IIE-SRF host partner), health insurance, and funding for relocation and professional development opportunities, in addition to the dedicated support of IIE- SRF and its partners before, during, and after the fellowship. To date in 2021, SRF has assisted two Burmese scholars, has several candidates under consideration, and expects to provide additional support in coming months. Jonah Kokodyniak, IIE’s Senior Vice President for Program Development and Partner Services, writes that the Foundation’s contribution “is part of a larger effort and also results in a multiplier effect.” The grant would, in addition, bolster IIE’s work with refugee students from the Thai-Myanmar border, helping them prepare for and apply to universities in the region through funding for needs like standardized exams, application and visa fees, and local transportation costs. IIE provides intensive advising support and often secures university cost-sharing and tuition waivers. It estimates making 20-25 awards at an average of $2,500, an amount of significant difference to students for whom the barriers for entry are high. IIE works with a strong network of refugee-serving educational organizations in the region, including Western Sydney University’s campus in Vietnam, the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, and institutions in the Philippines and Thailand. The Institute sees these two interventions as the areas of greatest need at present, and where it can implement practical approaches to provide support immediately and over the coming academic year. The Asia Program has introduced IIE to the LuceSEA-supported Graduate Education and Training in Southeast Asia (GETSEA) consortium, whose members are also involved in rescue efforts and can make recommendations and referrals, and whose institutions may serve as potential placements for Burmese scholars and students. Recommendation:                          That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a one-year grant of $150,000 to the Institute of International Education to support a program for students and scholars from Myanmar.   https://www.iie.org/