IREX is pleased to welcome the first-ever cohort of students participating in the new Kosovo Undergraduate Exchange Program [7](Kosovo UGRAD) for the 2012 academic year.
The Kosovo UGRAD program, one of the first initiatives funded by the U.S. Embassy in Kosovo established in 2008, brings students from Kosovo to the United States to study for an academic year at a university or community college. This year three Kosovo UGRAD students will be studying in Ohio, New Mexico, and Kansas.
Based on the Global UGRAD [8] model that emphasizes leadership development, community service, and cultural ambassadorship, the Kosovo UGRAD program seeks to equip youth with the skills to develop their country. During their program students attend classes as a full-time student, engage in community service in the host community, share their culture, gain professional experience through an internship in their field of study, and learn about American culture.
Kosovo UGRAD students are excited not only about their studies, but about the experience of living in another country. One Kosovo UGRAD student, Rexhep, will be studying at Shawnee State University [9] in Portsmouth, Ohio. “I hope to know other cultures and other lifestyles and to meet new friends,” he said. “My long term goals for Kosovo are to improve Kosovo, with the studies and experience that I learned in the U.S.”
Kosovo UGRAD [7] is a program of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy to Kosovo [10], U.S. Department of State, and is implemented by IREX.