Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM
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What We Do

The U.S. Department of State’s educational partnerships program encourages educational reform, economic development, civil society, and mutual understanding through cooperation between U.S. colleges and universities and foreign post-secondary institutions. Partnerships may focus on disciplines in the social, political and economic sciences; public administration; the humanities; business; economics; law; journalism and communications; public health policy and administration; library science; and educational administration. The programs are administered by the Humphrey Fellowships and Institutional Linkages Branch of the Office of Global Educational Programs.

Since 1982, more than 700 awards have been made across the U.S. in support of partnerships with educational institutions overseas. In FY 2002, 56 partnership grants were awarded. A list of previously issued educational partnerships and affiliations grants can be found in the Historical Directory.

Projects should be beneficial to all partner institutions, although the benefits may differ significantly for each of them. The proposals must demonstrate a commitment by all partner institutions to pursue project goals collaboratively. Competitions target specified themes and geographic regions. Cooperation sometimes results from the experiences of a Fulbright scholar at a U.S. or foreign host institution.

Department of State educational partnership programs include the following programs and projects:

• The Educational Partnerships Program, formerly known as the College and University Affiliations Program, currently extends to all world regions except those covered by the Freedom Support Educational Partnerships Program (see below). Eligibility of countries within each world region varies for each competition. Funding caps may vary by year and country.
  
  
• The Freedom Support Educational Partnerships Program funds educational partnerships between colleges and universities in the United States and Eurasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan) with funds from the Freedom Support Act (FSA). The maximum award for most grants is currently $250,000 for a three-year period.
  
  
• Specialized projects provide comprehensive or targeted educational assistance in cooperation with previously designated foreign partners. For example, separate individualized projects to assist foreign educators to develop locally oriented educational curricula in consultation with U.S. experts have been undertaken in 12 different countries in Europe and Eurasia. Other projects are assisting with the development curricula at universities in such places as Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Tunisia, and Okinawa, Japan.

Typical Project Objectives

Partnership Program project objectives typically include:

• Strengthened teaching, research, administrative, and public service capacity for all partner institutions;
  
  
• Establishment, expansion, or reform of educational programs;
  
  
• New pedagogical models and educational materials;
  
  
• Collaborative research; and,
  
  
• Outreach to local communities and relevant professional, non-governmental and government entities.

How to Apply

U.S. educational institutions and organizations submit proposals to the Department by the deadlines announced in Requests for Grant Proposals (RFGPs), which are published periodically in the Federal Register and are available online on the Bureau's RFGP website. Proposal guidelines and application materials appear in the RFGPs and associated documents. "Suggestions for Applying" are also available online.

The Department of State does not support U.S. student exchanges under most partnership programs. U.S. graduate students may participate as visiting instructors at the foreign partner institution, and foreign students must either have teaching responsibilities or be preparing for teaching duties. Information on grants to individual students and scholars through other Department of State programs is also available on the Bureau's website.

Review Criteria

Grant competitions are merit-based. Review criteria are published in RFGPs. Proposals in most competitions are reviewed independently by professional and scholarly experts and by State Department officers in Washington and overseas, and in some cases, by binational Fulbright Commission officers. Proposals are reviewed for the quality and impact of project goals, feasibility, and the commitment of participating institutions to work with one another as reflected in appropriate cost-sharing. The U.S. partner institutions are the grant recipients.

Eligibility

U.S. participation in State educational partnership programs is open to accredited institutions of higher learning, including:

• Community colleges,
  
  
• Liberal arts colleges,
  
  
• Universities with graduate-level and/or undergraduate programs,
  
  
• Consortia and other combinations of college and universities, and,
  
  
• Minority-serving institutions.

In limited cases, U.S. non-governmental organizations may be eligible to apply in certain competitions for specialized projects. Letters of commitment from the U.S. and foreign partner(s) are required. Cost sharing from participant organizations and other sources is encouraged. The commitment of partner institutions to the proposed project should be reflected in the cost sharing which they offer in the context of their respective institutional capacities.

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