Statement of Purpose

Our Statement of Purpose

BACKGROUND

The United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) is a non-profit 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.

Michael R. Gardner, United States Ambassador to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, established the USTTI in 1982 to address the important communications training needs throughout the developing world. In planning for the United States' participation in this Conference, Ambassador Gardner, along with the industry and government leaders on the U.S. delegation, recognized the compelling need in developing nations for senior-level managerial and technical training in telecommunications and broadcasting. Joining Ambassador Gardner as original founding members of the USTTI in 1982 were: William McGowan, the founder of MCI Communications; Dr. Joseph Charyk, the Chairman of the Board and the first President of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT); Charles Wick, the visionary Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) during the 1980's; Dick Nichols, the Vice-President of AT&T International; and Astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the former United States Senator from New Mexico and the twelfth man to walk on the moon during the Apollo program. In order to respond to this legitimate need for diverse and quality communications training, Ambassador Gardner asked leaders of major, and often competing, U.S. communications corporations to join together to provide training at no cost to qualified communications professionals from the developing world. U.S. industry leaders and government officials enthusiastically responded to this need with the USTTI's first curriculum offering in 1983, which featured thirteen tuition-free training courses.

USTTI TODAY

The USTTI's 1999 curriculum of 73 courses represents a dramatic increase over the thirteen-course curriculum offered in 1983. The USTTI's ever expanding curriculum is due to the growing support of corporate Board members and other industry and government sponsorship during the past sixteen years. Corporate Board members of the USTTI are: Roland Acra, Cisco Systems Inc.; Seth D. Blumenfeld, MCI WorldCom; Martina L. Bradford, Lucent Technologies Inc.; Francis D.R. Coleman, ICO Global Communications; Lew W. Cramer, MediaOne Group; James W. Cuminale, PanAmSat Corporation; Greg Farmer, NORTEL Networks; David C. Fine, SBC International Development; Dan Gerberding, Hewlett- Packard Company; David J. Markey, BellSouth Corporation; Cathy-Ann Martine, AT&T; John H. Mattingly, COMSAT Satellite Services; Gerald Musarra, Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications; Pamela J. Riley, AirTouch Communications; Lawrence H. Williams, Teledesic LLC; A. William Wiggenhorn, Motorola; and Edward D. Young, III, Bell Atlantic. USTTI corporate Board members provide tuition-free training at their corporate facilities, finance the general overhead costs of the USTTI, and designate a ranking corporate official who serves on the USTTI Board of Directors. In addition, more than 100 other U.S. companies, universities, and organizations assist the USTTI by providing free training and/or financial support.

Aside from providing diverse tuition-free training for USTTI participants, the U.S. private sector contributes valuable in-kind support to the USTTI. For example, the substantial cost of underwriting the production of this year's Catalog has been provided by AirTouch Communications.

Senior communications officials in the Federal Government also play a vital role in the USTTI. Federal members of the USTTI Board include: William E. Kennard, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (FCC); Ambassador Vonya B. McCann, U.S. Coordinator, Office of International Communications and Information Policy, United States Department of State; Clarence Irving, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and National Telecommunications and Information Administrator (NTIA), United States Department of Commerce; and Dr. Joseph Duffey, Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA). As USTTI Board members, these Federal leaders actively involve their departments and agencies in the important training outreach of the USTTI. Through the participation of these Board members and other officials in the Executive Branch and Congress, the U.S. Government has become a full partner with private industry in the success of the USTTI.

In addition to providing leadership on the USTTI Board of Directors, the U.S. Government provides in-kind and scholarship support to the USTTI. USAID provides a modest, yet important, source of travel and subsistence funding for qualified USTTI applicants from the more financially deprived developing countries of the world. USAID also helps to process USTTI applicants through USAID Mission offices overseas. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission prints the Participant Handbook, an orientation manual for USTTI trainees. The U.S. Department of State assists the USTTI in the global distribution of course catalogs throughout the developing world, awards both administrative and scholarship grants to the USTTI, and provides invaluable support through its contacts with foreign governments and agencies who propose candidates for USTTI training. The USIA, with its constant outreach through field offices at U.S. embassies abroad, provides scholarship support in special cases and also helps to publicize the course offerings.

The Congress of the United States has repeatedly recognized the significance of the USTTI's global training outreach through special amendments to two legislative acts: the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 and the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. These amendments explicitly authorize support (including use of staff, other appropriate resources and service on the Board of Directors) of USTTI's activities by the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce. In addition, the Senate Appropriations Committee explicitly recognized the importance of USTTI training in report language from the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriation Bill in 1993 and 1994. In 1995, 1996, and 1997, the Foreign Operations Appropriations Conference Committee of the U.S. Congress further recognized the important role of USTTI training by urging USAID to provide limited travel and subsistence funding for qualified USTTI participants from the poorest developing countries. Most recently, thanks to the efforts of many committed supporters, the USTTI achieved the important goal of a $500,000 "Hard Earmark" on USAID funds which will ensure that the neediest participants in the 1999 training year receive valuable transportation and subsistence support.

Through the in-kind and financial support of various U.S. corporations, foundations and the Federal Government, the USTTI is able to operate with an efficient seven-person professional staff, freeing funds from overhead costs so that these funds can be used to help provide travel and subsistence support for qualified applicants from the least developed countries of the world.

USTTI TRAINING

From its inception, the USTTI Board of Directors has been determined to offer a diverse curriculum of cutting-edge communications training in an environment most likely to maximize the learning experience for USTTI participants. Instead of building a costly training center, the USTTI offers its tuition-free training in corporate and federal training facilities, laboratories, television stations, and studios that are volunteered for USTTI training all across the United States. As a result, the same facilities used for corporate and government "in-house" training, once reserved solely for the most promising employees and valued customers, are now classrooms for USTTI participants. In addition to reducing the overhead cost of the USTTI, this approach helps provide the practical and comprehensive telecommunications and broadcast training that the leaders of the developing world requested of the United States and other developed countries assembled at the ITU Conference in Nairobi in 1982.

Response to USTTI training from developing nations has been outstanding, as evidenced by the 6,732 quality applications for training in 1998. With its curriculum of 85 courses encompassing 835 training slots, the USTTI received more than eight applications for each training position available.

Throughout the past sixteen years, the USTTI has offered a total of 875 diverse courses and graduated 5,327 women and men. These USTTI graduates are the principal telecommunications and broadcast managers, engineers and technical specialists who operate the telephone systems and broadcast networks in 158 developing countries of the world.