FUND FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION (FIPSE)
Program for North America Mobility in Higher Education
FIPSE programs represent a first-of-a-kind collaboration among the US Department of Education and foreign government agencies to fund and coordinate federal education grant programs. These innovative programs foster student exchanges within the context of multilateral curricular development, enabling students to "internationalize" their studies through curricular innovation and study abroad.
Over the past five years, the EC-US Program and the North American Program have involved over 600 institutions in Europe and North America. Through funding from FIPSE and its foreign government counterparts, these programs have helped over 2000 students study in their discipline and profession in another country, often in a foreign language. Many more students have been impacted by the changes to the curricula at their home institutions that has come about through collaboration among the participating institutions.
These innovative FIPSE programs address the internationalization of higher education on a number of fronts: multilateral, multi-institutional collaboration; student mobility; mutual recognition of credits and study activities; development of shared and/or common curricula; acquisition of host country languages; development of apprenticeships and other work activities; and faculty and staff cooperation and exchange. Curricular integration impacts both "mobile" students studying abroad and students studying at their home institutions. FIPSE-supported curricular integration thus internationalizes campus curricula in the US, Europe, Canada, and Mexico, as well as in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines.
Program Objectives
Partner universities will work together to achieve the following objectives:
- Student mobility among the universities participating in the consortium through the mutual recognition and portability of academic credits
- Creating of shared curricula among the universities participating in the consortium
- Preparation of students in foreign language and cultural training