Women Enhancing Technology (WeTech), with the generous support of lead partner Google, has selected 17 projects in Africa to receive WeTech Seed Fund grants of $2,000 to $20,000 to support their work to involve more women and girls in computer science-related opportunities. WeTech helps more women and girls enter into, and succeed in, tech-focused education and careers. Launched last fall by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, the program is led by the Institute of International Education (IIE) and carried out with a consortium that includes Goldman Sachs, Google and Qualcomm Incorporated. WeTech will impact women and girls in Africa, India and the United States, developing the skills needed to fuel technological and economic growth. 

Nicole Davis, Program Manager for IIE Initiatives, blogs about a study tour with Indian higher education experts who visited various campuses throughout the United States. The goal of the visit was to explore and understand the different models of community colleges within the U.S. system and how they function within their local communities. "The government of India is looking to the community college model to play a significant role in addressing the pressing higher education needs the country faces and will continue to face in the coming decades," writes Davis.

The Institute of International Education announces the award of eight new research grants under its USAID-funded Democracy Fellows and Grants (DFG) Program. The grants will generate new knowledge to contribute to USAID’s democracy promotion efforts and support USAID’s Center of Excellence in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG Center).

Seven grants, awarded under the 2013 Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Research and Innovation Grants Annual Program Statement (APS), are for one-year projects. Research results will be published as part of the DRG Center’s Working Paper Series, posted on the DFG website, and posted to USAID’s Development Experience Clearinghouse. The eighth grant, under the Theories of Change program, will fund a project titled "Unwelcome Change: Understanding, Evaluating, and Extending Theories of Democratic Backsliding," which will produce a White Paper and a Theory of Change Matrix to support USAID Mission staff in designing interventions to prevent democratic backsliding.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has announced a $2.6 million grant to support the training of postgraduate students in population sciences and public health in 10 universities across Africa. Maina Waruru reports in the University World News on the donation to the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA)—a collaborative initiative between the African Population and Health Research Center in Nairobi and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

An article by Robert Lane Greene in the Economist shares highlights of a new report from the British Council and Oxford University’s department of education showing that "universities around the world are not only teaching English, but increasingly, teaching in English." While this trend is particularly true in Europe, other countries like Qatar are pushing courses taught in English. "But not everyone is keen on the idea," writes Greene.

A report released by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) shows that global flows are playing an ever-larger role in determining the fate of nations, companies, and individuals. "To be unconnected is to fall behind," says MGI. "We find that countries with a larger number of connections in the global network of flows increase their GDP growth by up to 40 percent more than less connected countries do." In addition, MGI found that knowledge-intensive flows are growing faster than the labor-intensive or capital-intensive variety and that "the next era [of globalization] will center on the rise of the global knowledge economy."

Simon Marginson writes about the globalization of research science in Inside Higher Ed, highlighting trends underlined in a recent report from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2014. According to the report, expenditure has risen sharply in East Asia and is producing results in countries like China that are beginning to rival that of the United States, while also fostering transpacific scientific cooperation. "But the fastest-growing science system is that of Iran," writes Marginson.

New Zealand is investing an additional NZ$40 million in funding over four years to achieve its goal to double the value of its international education sector by 2025, reports ICEF Monitor. The investment will be used toward a campaign called Think New to promote the country as an international study destination, especially in China, India, Southeast Asia, and South America. It will also support the development of new visa processes to make student documentation easier and faster.

Wachira Kigotho writes for University World News about a UNESCO Position Paper on Education Post-2015, which shows that "unequal access to university education is likely to persist in most countries globally despite concerted attempts to expand opportunities by 2030." The report shows that quality of schooling, security, and proximity to schools contribute to disparities and dropout rates—especially among girls—in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 

The call for proposals for the Third Annual Diversity Abroad Conference is now open. This year's theme is "Moving Beyond Barriers: Transforming International Education through Inclusive Excellence." The program will consist primarily of presentations selected through this open call for proposals. In addition, there will be invited speakers and symposia, panel discussions, round table discussions, and a poster session. Feature topics will likely include:

• Student identity
• Academic disciplines and programming
• Partnerships and collaboration
• Inclusion and support
• Research and data
• Leadership
• Funding
• Innovations and emerging trends

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, a Fulbright exchange activity sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), brings accomplished young and mid-career professionals from designated countries to the U.S. for an academic year of non-degree study and practical experience.  Fellows are placed according to their professional field in groups of eight to fifteen at universities around the country.  

In 2014, IIE is inviting proposals from universities interested in hosting a group of Humphrey Fellows in the fields of communications/journalism and public health policy and management.  Proposals will undergo competitive review, including external peer evaluation.

Universities selected to serve as host campuses for the Humphrey Fellowship Program will be eligible to receive a group of Fellows starting in academic year 2015-16, renewable over the following four academic years. 

For more information, please contact Amy Nemith, Assistant Director, Humphrey Fellowship Program, at anemith@iie.org.

The Taiwan Fellowship was established in 2010 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and supports scholars to conduct advanced research at a university or academic institution in Taiwan in fields related to Taiwan, cross-strait relations, mainland China, the Asia-Pacific region, or Chinese studies. Since its establishment, the Fellowship has supported 346 experts and we would like to welcome even more outstanding research.

Eligibility:

• Foreign nationals who are professors, associate professors, assistant professors, post-doctoral researchers, doctoral candidates, or doctoral program students at related departments of overseas universities, or are research fellows at an equivalent level in academic institutions abroad;
• Candidates recommended by ROC (Taiwan) overseas missions with a field of study on Taiwan’s foreign relations or cross-strait relations.

Those who are currently conducting research, teaching, or studying in Taiwan are ineligible.

The American Council on Education office of Higher Education for Development (ACE/HED) is seeking two qualified candidates to conduct a summative implementation and outcome evaluation of a higher education development project in Barbados.

HED receives funding from USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment, Office of Education (E3/ED), USAID’s functional and Regional Bureaus and worldwide Missions, and the U.S. Department of State to support higher education partnerships to advance global development, economic growth, good governance, and healthy societies. 

USAID’s Job Opportunity for Business Start Up (JOBS) is an initiative to promote post-secondary skills training in entrepreneurship through partnerships among U.S. and developing country institutions of higher education. The Barbados JOBS partnership between the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and the Cave Hill School of Business at the University of the West Indies focuses on the growth of an entrepreneurial culture and diversifying the service oriented economies in Barbados and neighboring countries. The partnership works to establish the Cave Hill School of Business Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at the University of the West Indies as the hub for innovative business training and growth in the Eastern Caribbean by concentrating on two objectives:

• To enhance CHSB's institutional capacity to serve as an entrepreneurship center for excellence in Barbados and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
• To strengthen entrepreneurship knowledge and skills among diverse stakeholder groups in Barbados and the OECS through outreach and engagement

For more information, please contact omalul@hedprogram.org.

Applications for the 2015 Round of the Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships are now open and provide up to AUD$272,500 for study, research, or professional development. Citizens from eligible countries in the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, as well as Australians, can undertake these programs overseas.

Applicants may be in any discipline and can apply in one of four categories:

• Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship to undertake a Masters or PhD (max 4 years).
• Endeavour Research Fellowships for postgraduate research students and postdoctoral researchers for 4–6 months of research in Australia.
• Endeavour Executive Fellowship professional development for 1–4 months.
• Endeavour Vocational Education and Training (VET) Scholarship to undertake vocational education at a Diploma, Advanced Diploma or Associate Degree (max 2.5 years).

Fulbright’s International Education Administrator (IEA) seminars help international education professionals and senior higher education administrators create empowering connections with the societal, cultural, and higher education systems of other countries. Two-week seminars are currently offered in India, Japan, Korea, Germany, and France. An overview of IEA opportunities can be found here, and more information about the Fulbright Scholar Program in general can be found on our website, www.cies.org. 

We are also hosting a webinar on June 16, 2014 at 2:00 PM ET for prospective applicants interested in the India seminar. Program staff will provide guidance on submitting a competitive application, and a recent alumna will share her experiences and take questions. Interested candidates can register here.

For more information, please contact Alexandra Squitieri at ASquitieri@iie.org. To receive more information and program updates, sign up for My Fulbright. 

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. For more information, visit eca.state.gov/fulbright.

The Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program offers teaching and/or research awards to U.S. faculty and experienced professionals in a wide variety of academic and professional fields in over 125 countries worldwide. There are nearly 600 awards being offered in 46 disciplines, in addition to many All Discipline awards that welcome teaching and/or research proposals in any area of study, including interdisciplinary projects. To view the full range of awards by discipline, visit the Catalog of Awards.

To learn more about a few highlighted disciplines, click on the links below:

• American Studies
• Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship
• Computer Science
• Communications
• Education
• Environmental Science
• Law
• Medical Sciences and Public/Global Health
• Political Science
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
• Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

These Highlighted Disciplines pages represent just a sample of what is offered by the Fulbright Scholar Program. All Disciplines awards continue to be offered in every world region.

Beckie Smith reports for The PIE News on the last in a series of international engagement workshops in Myanmar organized by IIE. "The country’s higher education system is in a state of major transition following the dissolution of the military junta in 2011, so one key element of the pilot course ... is a newly forged network to foster collaboration globally and within the local higher education system." Clare Banks from IIE’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education told The PIE News "This cooperation and networking will be essential as [universities] adapt their structures, governance, and processes to reflect changing needs and increased independence."

 

Schwarzman Scholars, the elite international scholarship program based at Tsinghua University and modeled on the Rhodes Scholarship, announced a partnership with IIE to develop and implement an international application process as well as recruitment and selection practices. 

Schwarzman Scholars was founded in 2013 with a very specific global mission to educate future world leaders about China and in so doing, contribute to stronger, more stable relations between nations. IIE will help Schwarzman Scholars accomplish that mission by supporting its efforts to attract the world’s most entrepreneurial, independent, critical-thinking future leaders who understand that in-depth, first-hand exposure to China is critically important in the 21st century. Each year, 200 students from around the world will be named as Schwarzman Scholars.

Randye Hoder makes the case in TIME for taking a year off between high school and college. "Many educators tout taking a gap year, saying that kids who step off the academic treadmill after high school to work, travel, volunteer or explore other interests are more mature when they arrive at college and more engaged in their education going forward," writes Hoder. "With this in mind, a handful of colleges—Princeton and the University of North Carolina, among them—offer scholarships and fellowships to incoming freshmen who take a gap year."

The United States and France express their support for the Transatlantic Friendship and Mobility Initiative promoting increased student and junior researcher mobility and exchanges. This initiative aims to double the number of U.S students going to France and the number of French students coming to the United States by 2025.

As the Syrian crisis enters its fourth year, IIE and its partners around the world announce news and results related to the work of the IIE Syria Consortium for Higher Education in Crisis. The Consortium provides emergency support to Syrian university students and professors, as they will be so urgently needed to help rebuild Syria.

While the world struggles to meet the basic needs of millions of Syrian refugees, IIE and its partners are making sure that higher education is not neglected. Launched in 2012 at the Clinton Global Initiative, the IIE Syria Consortium has expanded in 2014, with original partners IIE, Jusoor, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), and the U.S. Department of State joined by the Global Platform for Syrian Students, Kaplan Test Prep International, and the University of California, Davis. 

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs has made a grant of $250,000 and the Carnegie Corporation of New York has made a grant of $500,000 to provide much-needed assistance to this effort, the latter in cooperation with the Global Platform for Syrian Students. These funds are enabling IIE and its partners to secure scholarships for Syrian students, offer grants to universities hosting Syrian students, and provide IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) fellowships to six Syrian scholars. To date, IIE-SRF has provided fellowships to nearly 50 threatened Syrian scholars thanks to private donors including the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Hite Family Foundation.

Thanks to new partners and funding, the Consortium has mobilized and coordinated over $6 million in assistance and educational opportunities this year for Syrian students and scholars whose lives and academic work have been threatened due to the conflict.