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IDEAS Capacity Building Initiatives

The IDEAS Program offers a variety of in-person and virtual trainings for faculty and staff at U.S. colleges and universities with the goal of helping to increase their institutions’ capacity to administer study abroad programs. As the field continues to adapt and evolve in response to the global pandemic, the IDEAS Program is committed to offering initiatives and activities that address the most pressing needs of our country’s varied higher education institutions and key U.S. foreign policy goals.

IDEAS Virtual Institutes – NEW

The IDEAS Program invites accredited U.S. higher education institutions to submit proposals to host one of two IDEAS Virtual Institutes between July 2024 and August 2025 by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 15, 2024. Unlike IDEAS webinars and workshops*, IDEAS Virtual Institutes are long-form, cohort-based opportunities for faculty and administrators to engage with experts and each other around a common topic and develop study abroad resources for their institutions. The goal of the IDEAS Virtual Institutes is to provide faculty and administrators at U.S. colleges and universities with best practices and resources to address current challenges and opportunities as they work to expand and broaden the U.S. students they send abroad and the destinations where they study. Additional details for these events can be found below.

Participants:Approximately 30 U.S. college and/or university study abroad administrators and faculty
Length of Training:12-16 hours total over 4-6 weeks
Location:online, synchronous and asynchronous, centralized in a virtual learning platform
Dates:July 2024 – August 2025
Budget:Up to $20,000 per institute

In coordination with ECA and IDEAS Program staff at World Learning, the selected institutions will develop and execute program activities under the resulting contract. Activities may include, but are not limited to, synchronous and asynchronous sessions, large and small group seminars, regular assignments, and/or networking events. All applicants must identify one or more potential final projects that participants will develop. The IDEAS Program anticipates awarding approximately two institute contracts to accredited U.S. higher education institutions with a preference for geographic, institutional, and topic diversity among institute hosts.

Questions or requests for additional information should be directed to Rachel Rice at [email protected] by February 15, 2024. All answers will be shared publicly via the studyabroadcapacitybuilding.org website by February 23, 2024.

Please read responses to questions we received in the FAQ document.

Proposals submitted in response to this RFP should be emailed to [email protected] by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 15, 2024. Successful applicants will be notified by April 1, 2024.


IDEAS Workshops

Upcoming IDEAS Workshops

IDEAS workshops are open to study abroad stakeholders from accredited U.S. colleges and universities, including but not limited to study abroad advisors, faculty, and other staff involved with or interested in creating, expanding, and/or diversifying study abroad for U.S. students at their institution. Workshops will take place either virtually or in-person on Fridays. Registration will open one to two months before each event. See below for more information on workshop topics and registration details.

Objectives of the IDEAS workshops are to:

  • Share best practices on study abroad capacity building topics as identified by the U.S. study abroad community;
  • Share USA Study Abroad information and other U.S. Department of State and U.S. Government resources; and
  • Build and strengthen the U.S. study abroad community networks for future sharing of resources and best practices.

We do not currently have any workshops scheduled. Please see materials from previous workshops in the Past Initiatives section below and in our Library of Resources, and check back here for workshop announcements in the future.


IDEAS Webinars

IDEAS Webinars are hosted virtually and open to study abroad stakeholders from accredited U.S. colleges and universities and other organizations who are involved with or interested in creating, expanding, and/or diversifying study abroad for U.S. students at their institution.

Please see materials from previous webinars in the Past Initiatives section below and in our Library of Resources.

Upcoming IDEAS Webinar Series

The U.S. Department of State’s IDEAS (Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students) Program is pleased to announce “Expanding U.S. Study Abroad Destinations: Connecting American Students with the World.” This year-long series of webinars will provide practical advice and resources from a range of higher education and State Department experts on how to safely pursue new academic partnerships and U.S. study abroad programs in destinations around the world, including those which are less common. As U.S. student mobility continues to resume, it is important to ensure that U.S. students can learn global skills, build relationships, and share U.S. values in countries throughout all world regions in support of our U.S. foreign policy goals.

The series will mark the launch of a Higher Education Partnerships toolkit and include the following:

  • International Higher Education Partnerships 101 – March 25, 2024
  • Managing Risk and Prioritizing Safety When Expanding to New Destinations – registration will open in April 2024
  • Region-specific seminars on exploring and establishing U.S. study abroad programs in new areas – four subsequent webinars to be announced throughout 2024 and 2025

All webinars will be recorded and all resources will be available on the IDEAS Program website.

IDEAS current grantees and alumni – look for exclusive virtual training opportunities, as well as an in-person event, on these topics in 2024!

International Higher Education Partnerships 101

Monday, March 25, 2024, 4-5pm EST

This webinar will launch the Higher Education Partnerships Toolkit developed and funded through the 2022-2023 U.S.-ASEAN University Connections Initiative, which was a White House deliverable from the 2022 U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit implemented under the IDEAS Program in partnership with the Association for International Education Administrators (AIEA). This session will highlight key sections from the toolkit and dive deeper into resources for establishing and nurturing international education partnerships around the world. Leaders from U.S. institutions who contributed to the toolkit will discuss the process of developing a partnerships strategy and identifying and collaborating with potential partners, among other topics.

Speakers:  

  • Rebekah de Wit, Director of Global Education, Community College of Baltimore County 
  • Wing-Kai To, Assistant Provost for Global Engagement and Senior International Officer, Bridgewater State University 
  • Jill Blondin, Associate Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, Virginia Commonwealth University 

Managing Risk and Prioritizing Safety When Expanding to New Destinations registration opens in April 2024!

The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs works to protect the safety of U.S. citizens abroad and provides a variety of informational resources that U.S. higher education institutions can consult as they consider expanding their partnerships and U.S. study abroad programming to new global locations. Hear directly from State Department experts about State Department Travel Advisories, American emergency citizen and routine consular services provided to U.S. citizens both as they prepare for study abroad and while overseas, passport services, and Department of State resources that U.S. colleges and universities can use to help assess and manage risk in new and current programming locations. U.S. college and university representatives will also share their institutions’ strategies for assessing and mitigating risk when exploring opportunities in a new country.  

All registered attendees will receive copies of the webinar series materials when available. These materials will also be posted in the IDEAS Library of Resources. All sessions will include live ASL interpretation and be closed-captioned, recorded, and ADA-compliant.


Past Initiatives

See below to explore past IDEAS Initiatives and recordings. Check out the Library of Resources for resources from these events and more.

2023
  • Webinar: Campus Engagement in Refugee Resettlement: Perspectives from the SHERR Program (Recording)
  • Workshop: Disturbing Stereotypes and Single Story Narratives: Expanding Inclusivity and Belonging in Global Programming
  • Webinar: Preparing a Globally Competent STEM Workforce through Study Abroad (Recording)
  • Webinar: Transcripts, Translations, and Transfers, Oh My! A Registrar’s Perspective on Study Abroad (Recording)
  • Workshop: Fighting Climate Change Through Connection Between Study Abroad and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Resource Hyperdoc)
2022
  • Webinar: Rural Students Across the Globe: Recruiting and Supporting Rural U.S. Students Abroad (Recording)
  • Workshop: Developing More Impactful Experiential Learning: Best Practices for Faculty-led Study Abroad (Resource Hyperdoc)
  • Workshop: (Re)creating a Campus Culture of Study Abroad After a Global Programming Pause (Resource Hyperdoc)
  • Workshop: Jumpstarting Education Abroad at Community Colleges in a COVID-19 World (Resource Hyperdoc)
  • Webinar: Expanding Access and Inclusion: Developing Holistic Strategies for Recruiting and Supporting Students from Underrepresented Groups (Part I, II, III, IV)
  • Webinar: What do institutions need to know about the updated U.S. Department of State Travel Advisories? (Recording)
  • Webinar: Priorities for a Return to Student Mobility: IDEAS Resources for Supporting Underrepresented Students (Recording)
  • Webinar: Incubator Session: When One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Analyzing Data for Diverse Student Populations (Recording)
  • Webinar: When One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Analyzing Data for Diverse Student Populations (Recording)
  • Webinar: Priorities for a Return to Student Mobility: Financial Strategies to Maximize Your Office’s Budget (Recording)
2021
  • Webinar: Assessing Student Growth and Development Abroad (Recording)
  • Webinar: Theory of Change: Translating Study Abroad Program Goals and Priorities into Assessments (Recording)
  • Webinar: Priorities for a Return to Student Mobility: Working with Partners to Assess and Manage Risk (Recording)
  • Webinar: Building Diverse Programs to Support Diverse Students: Best Practices from St. Cloud State’s Cultural Heritage Programs (Part I, Part II)
  • Workshop: Best Practices in Study Abroad Program Assessment and Evaluation – A 2-part workshop with Mount Holyoke College
  • Webinar: What the State Department and U.S. embassies can and can’t do in a crisis (Recording)
  • Webinar: Virtually Abroad: Expanding our idea of what study abroad looks like (Recording)
  • Webinar: What do institutions need to know about U.S. Department of State Travel Advisories? (Recording)
2020
  • Webinar: The Future of Study Abroad: Risk mitigation in a COVID world (Recording)
  • Webinar: The Future of Study Abroad: How to decide when it is safe and ethical to begin again (Recording)
  • Webinar: Maximizing your study abroad resources: Faculty-led best practices for program flexibility (Recording)
  • Webinar: Maximizing your study abroad resources: Supporting underrepresented students in study abroad (Recording)
  • Workshop: Faculty-led Study Abroad Best Practices: Addressing Grand Challenges in Faculty-led Study Abroad at UGA
  • Workshop: Faculty-led Study Abroad Best Practices at UNC, Charlotte
  • Workshop: Study Abroad Campus Outreach and Recruitment at CSU, Bakersfield

If you have questions about any of these IDEAS Initiatives, please email IDEAS@worldlearning.org



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