This message has been cross posted to the following Discussions: Global Community and Funding Opportunities Community .
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http://www.ncura.edu/Portals/0/Docs/Global/Iraq%20Funding%20Opportunity.pdf
IREX (the International Research & Exchanges Board) invites U.S. universities to participate in the Iraq University Linkages Program (ULP) Small Grants Project, supported by the U.S. Embassy – Baghdad.
Through the ULP, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has made an important contribution to strengthening Iraqi universities through its focus on partnerships and linkages to U.S. universities. The ULP aims to build sustainable relationships between Iraqi and U.S. higher education institutions and develop the capacity of Iraqi universities to be better equipped to engage globally and to promote social, political, and economic development in Iraq. The ULP partnerships have spawned strong personal connections and fostered mutual understanding among participating faculty and administrators.
To further build on this foundation of cultural understanding and capacity building, IREX is opening participation in the small grants to additional Iraqi and U.S. universities. Grants to existing ULP universities would be aimed at building onto next steps in collaboration while expanding institutional impact and sustainability on those campuses. Grants to non-ULP universities would be aimed at providing seed funding for U.S. and Iraqi partners to develop longer term relationships and partnerships through targeted collaboration.
This is a competitive process which began with the submission of the Small Grants applications by the Iraqi Universities. IREX then created a menu of partnerships for funding based on the areas of interest for joint projects identified by Iraqi universities. IREX invites U.S. universities to review the list of selected proposals and submit a Statement of Interest (SOI) if there is a desire in developing this type of partnership in any area identified by the Iraqi campuses. U.S. partner universities will be selected from submitted SOIs based on shared goals and areas of strength with the participating Iraqi institutions.
Applicants are invited to develop a collaborative project that will be completed within 6-12 months. Applicants can request from $5,000 to $50,000 for the project. Grants receiving higher amounts of funding must show broader impact to the Iraqi campus. IREX reserves the right to suggest alterations to an applicant’s proposal or to fund some, but not all, components of an application.
Possible areas for collaboration for this grant could include but is not limited to:
- Focused capacity building in faculty instructional strategies in a specific academic department
- Review and update the curriculum for a specific degree program
- Institutional Research Capacity building
- University Administrative training
- Industry Engagement
2 Examples of projects from the 2014 Small Grants:
- Integrating software-based analysis tools into the electrical engineering curriculum.
- Developing a foundation in the field of sustainability studies and green building through faculty exchange, training and curriculum development.
- Conducting an introductory ABET accreditation workshop for Iraqi engineering faculty.
- Developing the concepts of entrepreneurship, technology transfer and curriculum development of a course in Entrepreneurship.
- Conducting in person workshops to introduce Iraqi engineering faculty to problem based learning.
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Katie Murphy
Staff Assistant
National Council of University Research Administrators
Washington, DC
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