Background

The United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) is a non-profit public-private partnership between senior federal officials and leaders of the U.S. information and communication technology (ICT) and broadcast industries. The goal of this collaborative effort is to share the United States' technological and managerial advances with women and men who regulate and maintain the IT and communications infrastructures throughout the developing world. The USTTI's comprehensive array of intensive tuition-free training courses are made possible by the support of federal and private board members, as well as hundreds of volunteer trainers across the country.

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 compelling need in developing countries for senior-level technical and managerial training in all areas of communication. In preparation for the Nairobi ITU Conference, Ambassador Gardner asked leaders of major, and often competing, U.S. communications corporations to join together with senior U.S. Government officials to provide tuition-free training for qualified communications professionals, regulators, and entrepreneurs from the developing world. Government officials and U.S. industry leaders enthusiastically responded with the USTTI's first curriculum offering in 1983, which featured 13 courses.

Joining Ambassador Gardner as founding members of the USTTI were: William McGowan, founder of MCI Communications; Dr. Joseph Charyk, Chairman of the Board and first President of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT); Charles Wick, the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) during the 1980s; Dick Nichols, Vice President of AT&T International; and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, former United States Senator from New Mexico and the twelfth man to walk on the moon.

USTTI Today

Since first offering 13 tuition-free courses in 1983, the USTTI has expanded its curriculum to provide 86 diverse courses in 2008. Thanks to the steadfast support of USTTI corporate and government Board members, as well as vital contributions from universities, medical institutions, and others in the U.S. IT-communications arena, the USTTI has incorporated the latest technological developments in its 2008 curriculum to ensure its relevance for the developing world. Corporation; Jackie Ruff, Verizon; Lynn St. Amour, Internet Society; Sebastiano Tevarotto, The Hewlett-Packard Company; Shane Tews, VeriSign, Inc.; and Frank C. Weaver, The Boeing Company. USTTI Board companies provide tuition-free training at their corporate facilities, finance the general overhead costs of the USTTI, and designate a senior executive to serve on USTTI's Board of Directors.

Senior communications officials from the Federal Government also play a critical role in the success of the USTTI, and are represented on the USTTI Board of Directors by: Juan A. B. Belt, Director of the Office of Infrastructure and Engineering in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, & Trade, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Ambassador David A. Gross, United States Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State; Meredith Baker, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), and Chairman Kevin J. Martin of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These federal leaders actively involve their agencies in important training outreach for the USTTI. Through their participation, and that of other officials in the Executive Branch and Congress, the U.S. Government has been a full partner with private industry to accomplish USTTI training goals.

In addition to their leadership on the USTTI Board of Directors, U.S. Government officials and their departments and agencies provide significant training as well as other in-kind and scholarship support for USTTI participants. USAID is a vital source of travel and subsistence funding for highly qualified USTTI scholars from less-developed countries. These scholarships are awarded each year through the invaluable assistance of the women and men working in USAID Missions overseas. The FCC provides vital training through its six courses each year, and plays an important leadership role in special USTTI seminars. The FCC also prints the biennial Participant Handbook, an orientation guide for USTTI trainees. The NTIA offers senior-level spectrum management and IT policy training, and provides an annual grant to help publish the USTTI's Course Catalog and Annual Report. The State Department awards training grants to the USTTI and provides valuable contacts with foreign governments that nominate candidates for USTTI training. In addition, the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and its dedicated staff provide a panoply of funding and additional support for the USTTI. Besides showcasing USTTI's tuition-free curriculum at their popular regional conferences around the globe, USTDA has provided important funding support in conjunction with these regional seminars.

The United States Congress has 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 State Department, USAID, FCC, and NTIA.

USTTI Training

To ensure a dynamic learning experience for USTTI scholars, the Board of Directors is committed to maintaining the diversity of USTTI's cutting-edge curriculum. Instead of operating a costly training center, USTTI offers the vast majority of its tuition-free training in corporate and federal training facilities, laboratories, and television stations that are volunteered by our sponsors across the U.S. As a result, the same facilities used for corporate and government in-house training also effectively serve as classrooms for USTTI scholars.

Throughout the past 25 years, the USTTI has offered a total of 1,528 diverse training courses and graduated 7,254 women and men who are the key IT-communications regulators, managers, and service providers in 166 developing countries. As USTTI enters its 26th year of training, the increased popularity and need for USTTI's tuition-free training is reinforced by the fact that in 2007, the USTTI's 70-course curriculum attracted 10,746 applications for the 998 available training slots, a 10:1 ratio of qualified applicants for each USTTI training slot.