FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Matt Clausen mclausen@partners.net (202) 637-6211
Contact: Rebecca Morgan rebeccam@nafsa.org (202) 495-2559
FIRST LATIN AMERICAN GRANT RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED IN OBAMA’S 100,000 STRONG IN THE AMERICAS INITIATIVE Capacity building grants will expand and enrich study abroad across the Western Hemisphere WASHINGTON, MARCH 5, 2014: Today, Partners of the Americas, together with NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the U.S. Department of State, announced the first Latin American colleges and universities selected to receive capacity building grants from President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative. These grants, funded by the U.S. Department of State, will be used to expand and enrich study abroad opportunities across the Americas. The goal of President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative is to increase the number of U.S. students studying abroad in the Western Hemisphere to 100,000, and increase the number of Western Hemisphere students studying in the United States to 100,000 per year by 2020. According to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, “Education underpins our other goals in the Americas. We can expand the momentous economic gains of the past decade only if we improve education.” This latest group of nine recipients includes higher education institutions in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. They join four U.S. colleges and universities and their partner institutions in Peru and Chile, whose grants were announced in January. Through these competitive grants, colleges and universities will increase their institutional capacity to expand and sustain their study abroad programs. Students will improve their language skills, build on their experiences learning and living abroad, get hands-on research opportunities in another country, and position themselves for a competitive advantage in their careers as global leaders, professionals, and citizens. This supports the President's emphasis on increasing access to high quality post-secondary education, increasing collaboration and innovation, and strengthening jobs and middle-class professional opportunities. As President Obama said in his speech in Mexico City last year, “When we study together and we learn together, we work together and we prosper together." In response to the President’s call, the U.S. Department of State, Partners of the Americas, and NAFSA: Association of International Educators launched the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund to mobilize resources for this initiative, with a goal of raising $10 million per year in private sector investment. Currently, the Innovation Fund is accepting applications for the next grant competition for awards up to $25,000. This round, “Promoting Study Abroad Partnerships for Innovation and Collaboration” is sponsored by Santander Universities, a division of Santander Bank. To apply for a grant, colleges and
universities should visit www.100kstrongamericas.org. Contact 100Kstrongamericas@partners.net to learn how your company can invest in the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund. The winning institutions announced today include:
Winner: Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Location: Monterrey, Mexico U.S. Strategic Partner: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia Project Overview: The Global Entrepreneurship and Social Change initiative has three core components: faculty exchange, globally-networked learning, and student exchange. The goals of the initiative are to increase mutual understanding and build closer ties between institutions and nations and provide solutions that address challenges in international student exchange. Winner: Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro Location: Querétaro, Mexico Strategic Partner: West Virginia University (WVU), Morgantown, West Virginia Project Overview: The program will build global professional competencies and help close the gap between academia and industry in Mexico and the U.S. During the exchange, Mexican students will be offered a semester abroad at WVU. Groups of both WVU and Mexican students will have the chance to conduct an “industrial practicum” in Querétaro. Winner: Universidad de Guanajuato Location: Guanajuato, Mexico Strategic Partner: University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Project Overview: The project will expand student exchange innovation through the internationalization of the summer research program at the Universidad de Guanajuato and will promote participation of students from the University of Arizona Summer Research Institute. It will increase student proficiency in Spanish or English and increase student interest in graduate studies. Winner: Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) Location: Viçosa, Brazil Strategic Partners: Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois; and University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky Project Overview: UFV has developed a plan to start offering regular undergraduate courses in English in agricultural and biological engineering, food science, animal science, and agricultural economics in order to attract more U.S. students. Free Portuguese training will also be offered to U.S. students and a volunteer program called “UFV Ambassadors” will be launched to create student bonds and facilitate a smooth landing for students. Winner: Universidad Santa María la Antigua (USMA) Location: Panama City, Panama Strategic Partner: University of Arkansas (UA), Fayetteville, Arkansas Project Over view: USMA will increase its capacity for international exchange by building upon an existing relationship with the University of Arkansas to provide a sustainable model for future engagement with other U.S. partners. The grant will increase student mobility in both directions, increase capacity at USMA to provide support to UA students for short term programs (including service learning), establish a visiting faculty program where UA faculty will teach courses at USMA, and create a bi-directional corporate internship program. Winner: FAE Centro Universitário Location: Curitiba, Brazil Strategic Partner: Siena College, Loudonville, New York
Project Overview: To overcome the challenges of making study abroad accessible for all students, FAE Centro Universitário will implement a Brazilian Portuguese program for foreign students, create an international student office, and develop a training program for student mentors. Winner: Universidad EAFIT Location: Medellín, Colombia Strategic Partner: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana Project Overview: Universidad EAFIT will strengthen the services and opportunities offered to incoming U.S. students and increase their number of bilateral agreements by 200%. Winner: Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) Location: Cumbayá, Ecuador Strategic Partner: TBA Project Overview: USFQ has five key activities to increase the number of American and Ecuadorian students participating in study abroad: the initiation of a student research program in the sciences (The Latitude Zero: Ecuador Research Initiative), curriculum integration, student scholarships, program marketing, and the implementation of a web-based data management system. Winner: Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo Location: Jose Mária Morelos, México Strategic Partner: TBA Project Overview: The university will sign 10 cooperative agreements with U.S. universities creating study abroad programs, train staff to support these exchanges, send professors to the U.S. to do research, and receive U.S. professors to do research related to Mayan culture. The project will also help students continue their graduate studies at U.S. universities based on their engagement with Mayan communities and willingness to work for economic development of the Mayan region of Mexico. ### The mission of Partners of the Americas is to connect people and organizations across borders to serve and to change lives through lasting partnerships. These partnerships create opportunity, foster understanding, and solve real-life problems. Inspired by President Kennedy and founded in 1964 under the Alliance for Progress, Partners is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization with international offices in Washington, DC. Learn more at www.partners.net or via Twitter @partnersamerica. With nearly 10,000 members, NAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit professional association dedicated to international education. Learn more about our work at www.nafsa.org and www.connectingourworld.org and on Twitter at @NAFSA and @ConnectOurWorld.