Academic Exchange Programs – Undergraduate Programs

Funding is provided to non-profit organizations, colleges, and universities to support their work in designing and administering programs as well as coordinating program logistics. Funding supports publicity and recruitment, screening of applications, communication with participants, payment of participant costs, and the provision of enrichment activities. The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD) provides one semester scholarships to outstanding undergraduate students from underrepresented and underserved communities in Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Eurasia, the Near East, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. In FY 23, Global UGRAD placed more than 140 students at over 40 institutions around the United States for the Spring 2023 semester. The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program with Pakistan (Global UGRAD Pakistan) provides one semester scholarships to outstanding, undergraduate, emerging student leaders from across Pakistan who traditionally may not have access to the American educational system. Global UGRAD Pakistan supported 108 participants during academic year 2023-2024. Fifty-four fall 2023 and 54 spring 2024 students were placed at 52 U.S. host campuses in 35 states across the country. The Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders are five-to-six week academic programs focusing on topics in U.S. studies for groups of 20 foreign undergraduates. This model includes the Young Southeast Asian Leaders (YSEALI) Academic Fellows Program, which aims to build the leadership capacity of youth in Asia, to strengthen ties between the United States and Asia, and to nurture an ASEAN identity. The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders (YALI) also follows the SUSI model but targets young professionals from Sub-Saharan Africa. In FY 2023, the Fellowship selected 700 young leaders from 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to participate in the program. The Community College Initiative Program (CCI) provides scholarships for participants from target countries to study and train for up to one academic year at a U.S. community college. With improved technical, professional, and entrepreneurial skills, the participants return home to join their local workforce and contribute to economic growth and stability in strategic countries. The program advances America’s security and prosperity by addressing critical workforce gaps in industries essential to national security, economic resilience, and global competitiveness. The participants join a global network of over 3,900 CCI alumni that have strengthened ties between the U.S. and 30 countries since the program’s inception in 2007. The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program provides funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students through overseas summer institutes. The CLS Program is designed to increase the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages that are critical to U.S. national security and economic competitiveness.

Pursuant to the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended (Fulbright-Hays Act) the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State awards project grants and cooperative agreements to educational and cultural public or private nonprofit foundations or institutions. Applications may be submitted by public and private non-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in Internal Revenue Code section 26 USC 501(c)(3). Organizations must have nonprofit status with the IRS at the time of application. Please refer to the Grants.gov or the U.S. Department of State's MyGrants (formerly SAMS Domestic) announcement for further eligibility criteria. OMB Guidance 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart E Cost Principles under Special Considerations for States, Local Governments, and Indian Tribes applies to this program.