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U.S.-Kazakhstan University Partnerships Grants Program

This website will connect you with the online application for the partnership grant.

Deadline to apply

Application Deadline: 22 December 2022 05:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time

Eligibility

U.S. faculty members and administrators from higher education institutions, community colleges and technical schools are eligible to apply for partnership awards that deepen existing or establish new U.S.-Kazakhstan university partnerships in agriculture, renewable energy, IT and/or other STEM fields, or strengthen the capacity and professionalization of Kazakhstani institutions in enhancing good governance, financial planning, and management. Projects that establish new U.S.-Kazakhstan university partnerships will be prioritized. A particular focus of the program will be to facilitate engagement between Kazakhstani public (state) HEIs in regions outside of Astana and Almaty. Projects may involve a consortium of two or more Kazakhstani institutions. Applications must demonstrate commitment from a Kazakhstani institution through a letter of support. American Councils is ready to support matchmaking among interested institutions of higher education.

Awards

Five (5) grants to accomplish project goals and objectives will be awarded. Selected finalists will be awarded a $24,000 project grant to cover salary or honoraria, international and domestic travel, conference fees, materials, supplies, and other allowable costs associated with carrying out partnership activity. All grants will be awarded to U.S. higher education institutions and will be expected to be administered through Offices of Sponsored Research.

Criteria for Evaluation

Successful projects will demonstrate how activities will achieve and measure program objectives (e.g., joint research publications, conference presentations, faculty and student exchanges, joint workshops, trainings, and new joint proposals submitted to national and international funding agencies). Due to ongoing uncertainties around international travel restrictions, partners are expected to conduct synchronous and asynchronous virtual engagement activities throughout the course of their projects and consider virtual student and faculty exchange models.

Applications will be evaluated on following criteria:

  1. Completeness of Proposal (1-10 score): Does the proposal meet all criteria detailed in the application (project concept, personnel, impact and sustainability, and budget feasibility)? Does the proposal address key questions outlined in the application?
  2. Innovative Strategy (1-10 score): Does this project advance the overall goals of the U.S.-Kazakhstan University Partnerships Program? Does the project involve an innovative partnership approach to curriculum development and research that meet program objectives? Does the project use virtual engagement to advance partnership activity?
  3. Institutional and organizational capacity (1-20 score): Do the applicant and partners demonstrate the expertise necessary to achieve the proposal's goals? Is the project achievable in the timeframe proposed? Does the project involve higher education institution teams on both sides? Do the teams demonstrate significant international experience and commitment to support project goals?
  4. Budget and narrative justification (1-20 score): Does the application have a realistic budget that covers allowable costs? Does the applicant list any cost share expenses with Kazakhstani partner(s)? Does the budget include a reasonable level of indirect costs?
  5. Monitoring and Evaluation (1-20 score): Does the proposal explain how activities will achieve program objectives? Does the proposal include the partnership short-term and long-term targets? Does the proposal identify an effective methodology for measuring outputs?
  6. Sustainability (1-20 score): Does the proposal address project and partnership sustainability after the grant period ends? Does the applicant address potential future sources of funding?

Additional Information

You may download a sample application form, budget template and performance monitoring plan here:

Informational Webinars

Recordings of Informational Webinar are available on https://unicen.americancouncils.org/.

Contact Us

For questions about this program, contact us at:

Email:
Ksenia Ivanenko (Washington, DC), Program Manager, at kivanenko@americancouncils.org
Maksat Koshkarbayev (Almaty, Kazakhstan), Program Officer at mkoshkarbayev@americancouncils.org

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