US Department of State Awards UNC-Chapel Hill Grant to Build Study Abroad Capacity
June 19, 2023UNC Global Affairs
Photo by Marianne Cruzat '19.
UNC-Chapel Hill has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) Program to develop and expand international education.
The 34 U.S. colleges and universities that received grants this year will develop new international partnerships, train faculty and staff, internationalize curriculum, engage diverse students in study abroad, broaden the destinations where U.S. students study, and create virtual and hybrid exchanges.
With the IDEAS funding, UNC-Chapel Hill and Durham Technical Community College will implement a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) course in partnership with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco in spring 2024. COIL is a pedagogical approach involving virtual teaching and learning between faculty and students in two or more countries. Caroline Sibley, UNC-Chapel Hill teaching assistant professor of Arabic, and an Arabic language faculty member from Durham Tech will develop the course with support from Carolina’s Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs (OVPGA).
After the course is complete, students from Carolina and Durham Tech will travel to Morocco in May 2024 as part of a faculty-led study abroad program, making the class a COIL Plus course. The COIL Plus course will be Durham Tech’s first study abroad opportunity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and it will expand UNC-Chapel Hill’s limited offerings in the region.
“The State Department’s IDEAS Program bolsters the Global Guarantee, our ongoing commitment to making a global education available to all Carolina students,” said Sharmila Udyavar, associate director for global education in the OVPGA. “The COIL Plus program funded through this grant will enhance UNC’s robust global programming, with new opportunities for language learning and engaging with the MENA region.”
The IDEAS Program contributes to the State Department’s diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts to engage the American people in foreign policy.
“Increasing and diversifying U.S. students going abroad for educational opportunities, as well as diversifying the places where they study, is a State Department priority,” said Lee Satterfield, assistant U.S. secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs.
This project will build capacity for study abroad and global education among educators at UNC-Chapel Hill and throughout the state. Prior to the course, OVPGA will organize one COIL workshop in fall 2023 for faculty, staff and administrators at Durham Tech, a minority-serving institution, and other community colleges.
Since 2016, the IDEAS Program has awarded 179 grants to 173 U.S. colleges and universities in 49 states and territories to create, expand and diversify their U.S. study abroad programs in 71 countries across all world regions.
The IDEAS Program is a program of the U.S Department of State with funding provided by the United States Government and supported in its implementation by World Learning. For a full list of 2023 IDEAS grantees, as well as information on upcoming IDEAS webinars and workshops, please visit www.studyabroadcapacitybuilding.org.