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OPE Grants Broaden Access to International and Foreign Language Education

In fiscal year 2014, the Department’s International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office awarded $71.1 million to colleges, universities, and other entities to strengthen the capacity and performance of U.S. education in world languages, international and area studies, teacher preparation, and international business education.

For years, access to learning foreign languages and international and area studies was available mainly through higher education institutions that had the human and financial resources to deliver a rich global experience. In order to broaden access to international and foreign language learning by traditionally underserved institutions and students, the Department implemented new program priorities for this year’s Title VI and Fulbright-Hays competitions. For the first time, competitions for National Resource Centers (NRC), Language Resource Centers, and Centers for International Business Education awarded additional points to Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), community colleges, and institutions that proposed to collaborate in significant and sustained ways with MSIs and/or community colleges.

Recognizing the critical need for teachers with global awareness and competency, applicants for the NRC program were awarded extra points for proposing to collaborate with teacher education programs to strengthen the international and foreign language content of those programs. Additionally, institutions that proposed to take financial need into account when awarding Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships to meritorious undergraduate and graduate students also had the chance to win additional points. Every student, regardless of background, should have the opportunity to acquire the foreign language skills and global competencies necessary to be competitive in the 21st century’s interconnected economy.

The Department has begun to analyze the outcomes of these priorities, and the results are encouraging. Twenty-five out of 322 new IFLE grantees are Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Nearly half of the new grantees of the Department’s program to support the internationalization of undergraduate programs – Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program (UISFL) – are either MSIs or community colleges. One hundred percent of National Resource Centers, Centers for International Business Education, and Language Resource Centers for the next four years either will be working closely with MSIs or community colleges to increase opportunities for students on those campuses to experience international and foreign language learning, or are themselves MSIs or community colleges. Ninety-nine of 100 NRCs will be working to increase the global competencies of K-12 teachers, and 98 percent of institutions making FLAS grants will take students’ financial need into account when awarding fellowships.

The IFLE office is eager to share information about these grantees and the outcomes of their Department-provided funding with you in the months ahead. Check the office Home page at www.ed.gov/ope/iegps; sign up for the IFLE listserv by contacting Carla White at carla.white@ed.gov; and follow us on Twitter using the handle @EDPostsecondary. To learn more about the grants and the institutions receiving them, see the press releases at Title VI and Fulbright-Hays.

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Last Modified: 12/05/2014