Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative Awards Announced
As a result of an unprecedented education partnership between the United States and India, the U.S. Department of State recently announced the first awards for institutional partnership projects between both countries’ higher education institutions. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama launched the initiative in 2009 as a gesture of commitment to support education coalition building between India and the U.S., with each nation pledging USD five million.
The Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative (OSI) is administered by the The United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF), which is designed to promote mutual understanding through educational exchange. Each of the eight selected projects will receive approximately USD $250,000 in grant funding that can be used over a three-year period in priority fields like food security, climate change, sustainable energy, and public health.
The projects all aim to encourage mutual understanding, promote education reform, support new faculty, and spur economic growth. The 2012-awarded U.S. led partnerships will be spearheaded by Rutgers University, the University of Montana, the University of Michigan, and Cornell University. The India-led partnerships were awarded to Mahatma Gandhi University, Banaras Hindu University, and the Indian Institute of Technology in both Kanpur and Delhi.
OSI will continue to dispense the USD ten million grant allocation via annual awards for eight to ten university partners each year over a five year period. The next request for proposals will be announced in July of 2012.
Creative Commons Love: U.S. Embassy New Delhi and Samantha Appleton on Flickr.com
Written by Lauren Riggs
