The U.S. Department of Education has also awarded more than $71 million in new and non-competing continuation grants to help strengthen the capacity and performance of American education in world languages, cultural understanding, area and international studies, and research. The grants are under the Fulbright-Hays Act, also known as the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, and Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Both grant programs are administered by International and Foreign Language Education in the Office of Postsecondary Education.
“The world is becoming more interconnected than ever before, and our programs and grants are helping students to acquire the skills, knowledge, and understanding they will need to compete on equal footing for 21st-century careers,” said U.S. secretary of education John B. King Jr. “Employers from a cross-section of education, business, and government are expecting our graduates to be able to communicate and collaborate with peers in a global context. The grants help to achieve exactly that, by providing teachers, students, and our communities with the opportunities and resources for ensuring our nation’s capacity for global competitiveness.”
The International and Foreign Language Education Office aims to address the nation’s need by preparing leaders who are highly competent in world languages and international studies and who will fulfill roles critical to our national security and global engagement, fill critical posts in global business, and be the educators to help America’s students achieve greater global competence. These grants support students, teachers, faculty, administrators, and institutions of higher education as they engage in projects focused on international studies, world languages, cultural understanding, and research.
In addition to teaching foreign languages and area studies, Title VI and Fulbright-Hays grantees will use FY 2016 grant awards to support interdisciplinary curriculum projects, collaborations with minority-serving institutions and community colleges, and programs that expand global opportunities for K–16 educators.
