How can the SYLFF Regional Forums be most effectively implemented and used in promoting the development of a viable SYLFF network of graduated and currently enrolled SYLFF fellows? What are some sub-themes that meet regional needs and interests?

　

Although there are more than 8,500 SYLFF fellows around the world, there are few opportunities for fellows to meet fellows from other institutions and to work on a common agenda. Willingness and ability to cooperate with others is the most important in nurturing leaders in 21^st century. The SYLFF Regional Forums will provide SYLFF fellows from diverse backgrounds with an opportunity to meet and work on common issues pertinent to their respective regions and network building. It is also anticipated that through such an initiative, their sense of identity as SYLFF fellows will be enhanced and cohesiveness among the fellows will develop. The organization of three regional forums is currentlyunderway. These forums will bring together current and graduated SYLFF fellows to discuss concrete approaches to establish SYLFF institution-based, regional and global networks, and to examine ways of identifying and nurturing leaders. Another important purpose of the forums is to address the theme, Multiculturalism: Capitalizing on the Wealth of Diversity.

　

Three SYLFF institutions have agreed to host the regional forums in 2003: The University of Texas at Austin (April 1-5, North/South America region), The American University in Cairo (June 22-26, Africa/Europe region), and Chiang Mai University (October 19-23, Asia/Pacific region). SYLFF Steering Committees are being asked to nominate one current and one graduated SYLFF fellow to participate in a regional forum. Participants should be fellows who are willing to actively participate in the forum and to involve themselves and their colleagues in establishing SYLFF fellow associations and promotion of the SYLFF network program upon their return.

　

Drafts of nomination forms were distributed; participants were asked to forward the forms to their respective Steering Committees and to nominate fellows for regional forums by the stipulated deadlines.

　

Following the regional forums, a follow-up meeting is scheduled for December 2003. During this meeting, representatives from each region are expected to report on the proceedings of each forum, and to consider the transformation of the existing SYLFF follow-up programs and the start-up of networks.

　

There are many issues that affect global population, such as violence, war, hunger, AIDS, and illiteracy. The fact that perspectives on these universal issues and their resolution differ across cultures only supports President Jimmy Carter's recent statement that future leaders have much to learn from each other in order to address global issues. More than 8,500 fellows at 65 institutions in 43 countries hold tremendous potential with their respective cultural perspectives on leadership and how to address human needs and problems. There have been no formal opportunities for fellows to learn and share perspectives on leadership and issues with one another, although the issue of leadership capacity has already been addressed within the SYLFF Program through the (now terminated) Forum Program and the SNP initiative.

　

The example of Howard University and its commitment to networking shows how students can be given the opportunity to embrace inter-cultural perspectives. For this purpose, Howard started several initiatives, including obtaining additional funds for the SYLFF Program, creating the North American Directory in collaboration with Columbia University, and organizing a SYLFF Forum on race, development, and social inequality with the University of the Western Cape, Massey and York Universities, and the University of Sao Paulo in November 2001. Howard has also initiated a project with the University of Sao Paulo, the Federal University of Bahia, and Vanderbilt University resulting in faculty and student exchange, joint research activity, joint certificate program in international affairs, and a distance learning course on international relations taught in English and Portuguese. This project is being sponsored jointly by the Brazilian and US governments. (For details about this initiative and the 2001 SYLFF Forum, refer to Appendix 20-B). It is the collaboration that resulted from the SYLFF experience that made all of this possible.

Regional forums in 2003 will provide opportunities for the discussion of possibilities for greater and more systematic networking. Several issues to be considered in planning the SYLFF regional forums include:

　

(1)how future forums might be formed (regional, theme- or discipline-oriented),

(2)how to motivate SYLFF fellows to participate in forums,

(3)how to select participants,

(4)how to determine topics and the agenda, and

(5)what are the reasonable expected outcomes.

　

The goal of the regional forums is to go beyond individual fellowships and achievements, which is a goal worth pursuing. Organizers of the regional forum at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) first discussed a rough model with the Scholarship Division which was later further developed. Three days are scheduled for meetings with another couple of days for networking (e.g. excursions). The tentative plan is as follows:

　

Dates for the forum were chosen to coincide with the celebration of the 10^th anniversary of UT's SYLFF Program and alumni week at The Red McCombs School of Business, as it is expected that many of the SYLFF alumni will gather at the university.

　

Some problems that came up during the organization of the forum included: (1)early timing of the forum left little time for organization; (2)many of the fellows turned out to be unavailable either because of geographic distance or because of different academic calendars; (3)heterogeneity of students and their disciplines; and (4)lack of motivation to attend on behalf of the fellows.

　

It was suggested that other modes of organizing forums (such as teleconferencing) be explored. Strengthening fellows' sense of belonging to SYLFF would in turn strengthen their motivation to attend regional forums.

　

Organizers of the Asia/Pacific regional forum are still in the process of planning the forum; only a tentative schedule is available at the moment. Organizers are considering several topics with keywords, such as globalization and sustainable development.

　

The first part of the forum should provide participants with detailed information about different aspects of the SYLFF Program and available opportunities, including new initiatives. This part of the forum should be delivered by someone sufficiently familiar with the SYLFF Program, possibly a representative of one of the SYLFF institutions; this presentation could be delivered in the form of a keynote speech. The second part of the forum will probably take the form of an excursion. This excursion will be to a site that will provide fellows with food for thought regarding the topics on the agenda, so that they can further the discussion once they return to the forum venue and follow-up on the first two parts of the forum.

The Africa/Europe regional forum will probably be the largest and most diverse group of the three, comprising regions from the Arctic Circle to the Western Cape. The timing of the forum was selected so as to enable organizers to accommodate participants in the student dormitory. Organizers are considering whether to require papers from participants as background preparation. Organizers have also surveyed SYLFF fellows regarding the topics-fellows have suggested the topic, "Globalization and the Threats to Local Autonomy". Organizers believe that participants themselves should select specific topics. As soon as participants are nominated, an e-mail list can be formed through which they can further discuss the topic and sub-topics, and contribute towards the organization of the forum. During this process, controversies are bound to arise, but organizers should not suppress these, as this is what will prompt the follows to attend the forum. The organizers are of the opinion that their role is to host, not to direct. They are also aware of the importance of a keynote speech as it is supposed to propel the discussion rather than end it. Likewise, a post-note is also important to reflect on the issues raised during the forum and summarize what has been achieved. Immediately after the forum, a network should be set up, such as a list serve, that will most probably be formed along issue lines. What the organizers can do is to create a forum for creating the network, but the network itself can be set up only by the fellows themselves.

　

Mahendra Reddy: The idea of holding conferences on leadership or international development instead of topic-centered forums, followed up by a newsletter dealing with the same general topic to which the fellows would contribute was proposed. Such conferences would be welcome as there are always new fellows. With regards to papers, if participants are required to present papers at the forum, topics need to be decided in advance; it would also be good if the papers can be published.

Xiaobo Lu: There are problems in nominating participants for the North/South America forum, as the dates are too close. Also, the fact that many of the SYLFF fellows at Columbia University are currentlyin South Asia raises the issue of which forum they should attend.

Carlos Azzoni: The face-to-face aspect of the forum is very important. The main topic of the forum should not be too academic, but rather a topic that will facilitate networking. Participants should make presentations about their institutions and SYLFF Program at their institutions. While fellows are already at a given SYLFF institution, they use the opportunity to visit another SYLFF institution(s) in the region and meet and/or make same presentations to fellows at that institution(s) to expand the network with a little extra cost.

Muhammad Tadjudin: The nomination forms should clearly state that the airfare for participants will be provided from where they actually are, rather than from the SYLFF institution with which they are/were affiliated. Also, the discussions should be organized so that they focus on the issue of multiculturalism and not stray too much to other issues.

Alexander Fedotoff: Two participants from the first and second forums ought to present outcomes to the second and third forums.

Daniel Warner: Fellows should be given a say in the process of shaping SYLFF, i.e. in what the participants of the administrators' meeting are doing.

Caroline Yang: Regarding the thinking behind the proposed topic for the regional forums, Multiculturalism: Capitalizing on the Wealth of Diversity, multiculturalism is a pertinent issue, while both capitalizing and diversity imply wealth and assets. It was also pointed out that, apart from the "official" outcome of the forums, there is fellows' personal enrichment, which comes from opportunities they otherwise might not have and which might be the most important outcome of the forums. Drawing on the experience of Fulbright conferences, where participants are not required to prepare papers, the challenge is to find interesting and stimulating speakers.

Ersin Onulduran: Fellows should be provided with a rough format of the forum and possibly a list of topics and themes, and then become involved in the organization of the forums, so they give enough thought to the topics before arriving at the meeting. While preparing lengthy papers and a rigid format might place too much burden on them, this kind of involvement would provide opportunity for intellectual preparation for participation in the forum.

Ramli Abdullah: Multiculturalism will be an important and pertinent topic. The issue of leadership in the context of generational differences should also be incorporated in the forum.

Flora Botton: The list of issues to be addressed should be distributed to participants beforehand, so that they have the opportunity to think about them.

Julia Gonzales: Networking is crucial. Fellows coming from different academic backgrounds provide an excellent forum for discussing multiculturalism and different perspectives on reality in general. This might provide fellows with understanding of culture itself and it would be useful if participants could be provided with a certain amount of hard facts that would be distributed and used for discussion, so that participants would be given an opportunity to find their own key to the phenomena of culture and multiculturalism.

Michael Frischenschlager: The forums will provide an excellent opportunity for fellows to form the feeling of belonging to the SYLFF family. In order to achieve maximum effects, selection of candidates must be conducted carefully.

Surabela Fabian: It will be important to make forum participants aware of the goals that the Scholarship Division hopes to achieve beyond networking, as mere topics of the forums might not be sufficient motivation for participation in forums since many of the fellows already have many existing affiliations and obligations. The forums should also be used as opportunities to address leadership and provide training and further professional development.

Yansun Wu: The forums should be academic in nature in order to facilitate networking. After the forum, each university might publish the proceedings. Also, regional forums should address regional problems.

Jan Persens: While regional, all three forums will encompass vast diversity, and this fact should be borne in mind. I am enthusiastic about the forums as connecting the concepts of wealth and diversity as a step towards creating a positive image of diversity. Practical issues need to also be addressed, possibly by providing scenarios for discussions. The possibility of political insensitivities, unintentional as they may be, should be taken into account.

　

Tim Sullivan concluded by saying that the fellows should make their own choices. Pong-In Rakariyatham added that providing a list of ideas so that fellows can elaborate and develop them might be a good idea. David Platt said that the forums should be organized in a form that will give fellows the opportunity to reap most benefits on different levels. The convenor concluded that the panel and the discussion provided many ideas for further elaboration of the regional forums.

　

Ellen Mashiko expressed gratitude to the three universities and their representatives for taking on the responsibility of hosting the forums.