DUSHANBE, July 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- The Government of the United States of America announces the open competition for the Junior Faculty Development Program (JFDP) for the 2009 spring semester, press release issues by the US Embassy in Dushanbe said.

Citizens of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Tajikistan, or Turkmenistan, who are teaching full-time in an institution of higher education in their home country and  have at least two years of university-level teaching experience, and are highly proficient in English, are invited to learn more about the program and apply.

The JFDP is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State (ECA). American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, an American non-profit, non-governmental organization, receives a grant from ECA to administer the JFDP, and oversee each participant''s successful completion of the program. The United States Congress annually appropriates funds to finance the JFDP, and authorizes the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to oversee these funds.