Messenger - Vol. 1, No. 1, Page 14 Fall 1991 U.D. receives $1.5 million international development grant The University has received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (A.I.D.) to teach leaders in Bulgaria about the workings of a free market economy. The funding, announced in July, is part of an $18 million program, sponsored by A.I.D. and the U.S. Information Agency, called Management Training and Economics Education for Central and Eastern Europe. According to Lawrence P. Donnelley, the University's acting associate provost for international programs and special sessions, Czechoslavakia, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania also are targeted for assistance under the program. In all, 32 U.S. educational institutions, plus a number of contractors, are working with counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe to administer the government program, he said. The University of Delaware received the second largest grant of the program's educational participants, according to Stephen P. French, an A.I.D. technical adviser. The University's one-year grant, which began June 1, is being administered by the Office of International Programs and Special Sessions, and is staffed by faculty from the College of Business and Economics and the English Language Institute (ELI), in conjunction with a coalition of universities, government agencies and media organizations in Bulgaria, University President David Roselle said. Kenneth R. Biederman, dean of the College of Business and Economics, said the University program uses instructional technology and seminars, both in Bulgaria and in Delaware, to train qualified and interested Bulgarian economists, business persons, government leaders, teachers and journalists about free markets. "It will likely be a slow process," Biederman said, "but with the help of Sofia University, our counterpart institution, we believe the University of Delaware can help Bulgaria to eventually compete with success in the global economy. "In the next 10 months, we hope to leave a foundation for learning that will serve Bulgarians long after our program ends," Biederman added. Roselle noted that the A.I.D. grant builds on a tradition of University involvement with educational institutions in Bulgaria. For two years, starting in 1989, the University had a student exchange program, which was funded by a grant from the U.S. Information Agency, with the University of Sofia, Roselle said.