U.S. Saudi Academic Partnerships | DOS SAU 2404 PD

Opportunity Information: Apply for DOS SAU 2404 PD

The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia, through the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, is offering a discretionary funding opportunity titled "U.S. Saudi Academic Partnerships" (Funding Opportunity Number: DOS SAU 2404 PD). The program is designed to strengthen collaboration between U.S. and Saudi higher education institutions (HEIs) by actively facilitating partnership opportunities, with a central feature being the organization of a delegation visit that brings university leaders to Saudi Arabia. In practical terms, the project is meant to move beyond general relationship-building and instead help universities identify, explore, and potentially formalize areas of cooperation such as joint academic programs, research collaboration, institutional agreements, or other structured forms of engagement between U.S. and Saudi universities.

The award will be made as a cooperative agreement, which generally means the funder (the U.S. government, here represented by the Embassy) expects to be substantively involved in the project as it is implemented. Applicants should plan for ongoing coordination with the Embassy on key decisions, timelines, participant selection and programming, deliverables, and public diplomacy considerations. The activity is categorized under Education, and it falls under CFDA number 19.022. Funding is subject to availability, so even a strong proposal may ultimately depend on whether funds are released and maintained for the project.

Eligibility is open to a range of organizations that can credibly implement an international higher education partnership-building program. Specifically, eligible applicants include not-for-profit organizations such as think tanks and civil society or non-governmental organizations, as well as public and private educational institutions. The opportunity anticipates making one award, with an award ceiling of $175,000. This ceiling indicates the maximum amount an applicant should request, and it suggests a program scope focused on a targeted set of partnership-building activities rather than a large multi-year initiative. The opportunity was created on June 10, 2024, and the original application closing date is July 12, 2024.

At its core, the grant supports an organized, outcomes-oriented effort to connect U.S. and Saudi universities in ways that can produce durable institutional relationships. A competitive application would typically be expected to show a clear plan for how partnerships will be identified and advanced, how the delegation to Saudi Arabia will be structured to maximize concrete institutional results, and how the applicant will manage coordination across multiple universities and stakeholders. Since this is an Embassy-led public diplomacy and education initiative, proposals generally benefit from demonstrating strong project management capacity, a credible network in higher education, an understanding of the Saudi and U.S. academic landscapes, and a practical strategy for turning meetings and site visits into follow-on steps like draft MOUs, jointly defined project concepts, or planned future exchanges and collaborative programming.

• The U.S. Mission to Saudi Arabia in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "U.S. Saudi Academic Partnerships" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.022.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-06-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-12. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $175,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for DOS SAU 2404 PD

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