NDSU is one of 44 colleges and universities selected to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students (IDEAS) program. The $33,954 grant will be used to create, expand and diversify American student mobility overseas in support of U.S. foreign policy goals.
NDSU’s IDEAS-funded project looks to expand the university’s partnership network to include sport for development organizations and universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically in Tanzania and South Africa.
The new partnerships will help create a faculty-led study abroad course and an international internship program for NDSU sport management students. The goal of the course and internship will be to give students a real look into the globalization of sport in an emerging market, help them understand how sport is used as a tool to reach development goals and teach them practical skills that will make them more competitive in the international job market.
“I knew when I joined the faculty at NDSU last August that I wanted to find a way to create study abroad opportunities for sport management students,” said grant applicant Kelsey Slater, assistant professor of health, nutrition and exercise sciences. “As the sports industry becomes more globally focused, it is even more important for students to learn how professional and community sport work in different environments across the world. The IDEAS grant specifically supports students and programs that are underrepresented in study abroad, so the grant was a perfect fit for our program.”
Since 2016, the IDEAS program has awarded 145 grants to 139 institutions in 48 states and territories to create, expand, and diversify their U.S. study abroad programs in 71 countries across all world regions. In addition to the IDEAS grant competition, the program also offers opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators at U.S. colleges and universities to participate in a series of free virtual and in-person study abroad capacity building activities. The IDEAS program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and supported in its implementation by World Learning.
For a full list of 2022 IDEAS grant recipients, as well as information on a free IDEAS webinar series on building study abroad resources for U.S. campuses, visit the IDEAS program website. Funded projects are supporting such activities as developing new international partnerships and programs, training faculty and staff, internationalizing curriculum, creating resources to engage diverse student groups in study abroad and creating virtual and hybrid exchanges.
“The U.S. Department of State is committed to supporting U.S. colleges and universities as they continue to rebuild study abroad capacity impacted by the global pandemic. That is why ECA is proud award double the number of IDEAS grants this year so that we can support more institutions as they work to provide important international educational opportunities to their students. Our IDEAS grant recipients reflects the full diversity of the U.S. higher education system – including community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), rural institutions, and more – and we are committed to working with them to build study abroad programs that are accessible for Americans of all backgrounds and that provide more opportunities for American students to engage with people in more diverse destinations around the world,” said Heidi Manley, USA study abroad chief, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
