June 2, 2011 - The U.S. Department of Education has announced that Fiscal Year 2011 grant competitions for the following International Education and Foreign Language programs have been cancelled:
In May, the Department sent out notices that no new awards would be made for these programs in FY 2011 because “Congressional action on the FY 2011 budget substantially reduced funds available for grants” under the Title VI/Fulbright-Hays Programs. According to the Department, no decisions have been made regarding FY 2012, and they have not terminated these programs.
Title VI/Fulbright-Hays programs were cut by nearly $50 million (or 40%) in the final FY 2011 spending agreement (H.R. 1473). The competitions listed above represent nearly half of the programs administered by the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), as authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act and the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act (Fulbright-Hays).
The National Humanities Alliance urges advocates to contact both the House and the Senate now to urge restored funding for Title VI/Fulbright-Hays Programs in FY 2012. Click here to send a customized letter to your representatives through the Alliance’s Online Action Center.
Additional information on each of the Title VI/Fulbright-Hays programs, including cancellation notices, is available on the OPE website. For the recently cancelled competitions, the Department had estimated amounts for new awards in FY 2011 as follows: AORC-$1,400,000; BIE-$2,619,500; DDRA-$5,800,000; FRA-$1,700,000; IRS-$1,950,000; UISFL-$2,409,660.
