The Office of the Vice President for International Relations and the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs invite faculty applications for $3,000 classroom partnering grants. This program is intended to facilitate collaboration with faculty at Northwestern’s international partner institutions to provide cross-cultural, global opportunities for student learning and engagement using online tools.

Short-term goals 

• Deepen relationships with Northwestern’s international partners. 
• Provide Northwestern students (graduate or undergraduate) with cross-cultural, curriculum-based experiences with their peers abroad.
• Recognize faculty commitment to providing Northwestern students with opportunities to gain the competencies necessary to become engaged global citizens. 

Long-term goals 

• Create regularly offered courses that will provide students with opportunities to build their global perspectives and intercultural competencies “at home.” Such courses could provide greater access to global learning for students lacking the financial means or the time in their programs to spend a quarter or more abroad. Or, as they build students’ intercultural confidence and interest, these courses may become an entry point to study abroad for students who may not have previously considered it. 
  
• Increase the number of Northwestern faculty collaborating across borders, particularly with our partner institutions abroad. 

Activities

• Collaborative activities must involve faculty and students from one or more partner institutions and incorporate an international dimension to students’ classroom experience.
• Ideas for cross-institutional, cross-cultural experiences might include joint student discussions and discussion boards, joint assignments, peer tutoring (in language classes, for example), longer-term group projects (4-6 weeks, for example), or other relevant activities.
• Guest lectures by the faculty partners in each other’s classes are encouraged
  
  

Proposal Considerations and Criteria 

• Proposed faculty collaborators are not required to be teaching the same class, or to be teaching in the same disciplinary area.
• Faculty partners need to discuss and plan for: academic calendars (including national holidays, etc.), communicating across time zones, language barriers, access to various technological platforms and/or internet service.
• Joint icebreaking activities for the students and faculty members are strongly suggested.
• Recurring courses that faculty teach regularly are suggested.
• A small committee comprised of faculty and staff will review each proposal. 

Partner Institutions 

Proposals to collaborate with institutions listed on the International Relations website or with universities that have the potential to become our long-terms partners within a multilateral framework will be considered, but the following partners with existing institutional and curricular relationships with Northwestern are preferred: 

• Stellenbosch University
• Tel Aviv University
• University of Hamburg
• Universidad Panamericana 
• Universidad Iberoamericana
• Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• Peking University
• NTU Singapore
• Chinese University of Hong Kong
• UniversitéSorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 
• Sciences Po

Grant Details 

• Classroom partnering grants of $3,000 each will be awarded to up to 10 Northwestern faculty members.
• The grant will be paid in two installments: $2,000 at the time of award announcement, and $1,000 at the end of the course, after receipt of a short evaluation of the project. 
• The grant will be awarded as either supplemental pay or research funds, subject to approval.
• Grant funding will not be provided to the partner institution faculty member except in special circumstances.

Application Details

Please submit the following information through this application form.

• Existing (or proposed) Northwestern course number, title, description and quarter to be taught
• Partner institution name, faculty partner name, partner’s course title and description
• Expected enrollment on both sides
• Description of joint activities, including how students will engage with one another, online platforms to be used, the number and timing of meetings/activities, rubric for how joint projects will be evaluated/graded, and expected outcomes of bringing students from the different courses together. 
• A draft syllabus may be included as an addendum to the proposal, and thus exceed the two-page maximum.

Deadline:  Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, until funds are expended.

Questions can be directed to Kim Rapp, Assistant Vice President for International Relations at kim.rapp@northwestern.edu or 847-467-0939

 

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