The U.S. Department of State’s IDEAS Program announces the launch of its 2023 IDEAS grant competition

The U.S. Department of State’s IDEAS Program has announced the launch of its 2023 IDEAS grant competition, which provides grants of up to $35,000 to U.S. colleges and universities to develop study abroad partnerships, programs, and resources aligned with U.S. foreign policy goals. Accredited U.S. colleges and universities are invited to submit applications for projects to create, expand, and/or diversify their study abroad programming for U.S. students.

The 2023 grant competition will award approximately 30 grants of up to $35,000 each to accredited colleges and universities. This grant cycle will also include a pilot opportunity for a consortia of U.S. colleges and universities to apply for an IDEAS consortium grant of up to $50,000 for collaborative projects focused on building study abroad capacity at higher education institutions serving Indigenous peoples of the United States. At least one IDEAS consortium grant will be awarded in this category.

The 2023 Request for Proposals (RFP) process is divided into two phases to make the grant competition more accessible and equitable, in particular for lower-resourced institutions whose staff may not have extensive grant-writing experience. In Phase One of the RFP process, U.S. colleges and universities will submit a brief proposal describing the concept and general components of their proposed projects to build, diversify, and/or expand study abroad capacity at their institutions. The IDEAS Program will then invite approximately 65 semi-finalist applicants to submit full proposals during Phase Two of the competition. 

Phase One of this competition opened on October 26, 2022, and close on December 16, 2022, at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time via the IDEAS Grant Competition Application Portal. You can learn more about the IDEAS Program and access the grant competition RFP on the IDEAS Program website.