Grants / Department of State / U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan

DOS-KAZ-AST-AEECA-23-003: University Partnership Program (UPP)

Closed Closed July 26, 2023 Opportunity DOS-KAZ-AST-AEECA-23-003 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan notices from 2023.

• Award ceiling$360,000
• Total funding$360,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

The following organizations are eligible to apply:• U.S. or Kazakhstan-based organizations• Civil society/non-governmental organizations • Think tanks • Public and private educational institutions

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past AEECA/ESF PD Programs awards averaged $83,527; this notice allows up to $360,000 per award.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Executive Summary: The U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan announces an open competition for U.S. and Kazakh organizations to submit applications for the 2023-2024 University Partnership Program (UPP) to increase collaboration between U.S. institutions and Kazakh Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This program seeks to support economic diversification and growth in Kazakhstan. Project themes include the commercialization of research, partnerships with the private sector, joint research and publications between U.S. and Kazakhstani universities, curricula modernization, and building Kazakh institutional capacities to partner with U.S. institutions. Background: For more than five years the U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan has funded the University Partnership Program (UPP) to connect U.S. and Kazakh higher education institutions, traditionally by awarding sub-awards to U.S. partners who applied for funding with Kazakh institutions. As a result, 33 Kazakh universities have partnered with 30 U.S. universities to strengthen educational programs, teaching approaches, institutional and research capacities, as well as pursue joint projects addressing issues such as air pollution, environmental protection, and economic diversification. In addition to the projects achieved under each UPP, many partnerships have successfully resulted in sustainable, continued partnerships separate from USG funding. For example, many partners have applied for other funding opportunities, such as Bolashaq Scholars or National Science Foundation support, to continue research and faculty collaboration. The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State has conducted a regionally focused Monitoring & Evaluation study of the UPP program across several countries over multiple years. In addition, evaluation of previous projects has provided lessons learned and ways to focus the program implementation. For example, we learned that new curricula were not always adopted after being designed due to bureaucratic challenges. As a result, any curricula-based projects should focus on updating currently existing curricula, which is easier to adopt and teach than launching new curricula. We were pleased to see that UPP successfully served as seed money in many cases to support further, independent higher education collaboration and development.

Category: Other.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.