The United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) is a nonprofit joint venture between leaders of the U.S. communications industry and ranking officials from the Federal Government. The goal of this collaborative effort is "to share the United States' communications and technological advances on a global basis by providing a comprehensive array of tuition free telecommunications and broadcast training courses for qualified women and men who manage the communications infrastructures in the developing countries of the world."

Founded in 1982 and supported by the U.S. Department of State, USAID, participating private corporations, universities, and voluntary organizations, the USTTI has provided communications training to more than 4,500 senior communications officials from 153 countries. Awards are made in a collaborative process between USTTI and the particular course sponsor. In 1995 418 candidates were selected from more than 6,000 applicants from 88 countries, so competition is stiff. In 1996 USTTI is offering approximately 100 diverse courses. (See USTTI Training Sessions page for a sample of 1996 course offerings.) Institute courses are typically one to three weeks long and begin with a two-day orientation program in Washington, DC. A number of courses are sequenced so that trainees may take two courses in succession over a period of three to six weeks.

Corporate Board members of USTTI represent the cream of the U.S. telecommmunications industry. The U.S. Congress has recognized the importance of the USTTI through a series of special amendments to legislative acts that explicitly authorize support of the organization�s activities by the Department of State,USAID, USIA, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Department of Commerce. (The FCC prints the Participant Handbook, an orientation manual for USTTI trainees.) Most recently Congress�s Foreign Operations Appropriations Conference Committee awarded the USTTI a �soft earmark� of $650,000 for travel and subsistence support for participants in the 1996 training year. (In 1995 and 1996 USAID provided special funding to the USTTI for a special sequence of training for senior communications officials from the NIS.)

Individuals interested in applying to USTTI should request the 1996 Course Catalog and Annual Report, which contains application forms and information. USTTI also sends out a one-page list of suggested alternative sources of funding if an applicant�s sponsoring institution is not able to cover travel and lodgingexpenses. These include the International Telecommunications Union, the World Bank, and others.

USTTI
1150 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 702
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 785-7373
Fax: (202) 785-1930
E-mail: [email protected]

For more information or to order a subscription, see our publications page.

The URL for this page is: http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~ccsi/csew/96-05/ustti.htm
Last updated: August 2, 1996

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