The AORC program awards grants to any American overseas research center to establish or operate an overseas center to promote postgraduate research, exchanges, and area studies.

Any American overseas research center that is a consortium of institutions of higher education that receives more than 50 percent of funding from public or private United States sources, has a permanent presence in the country in which the center is located, and is a tax exempt organization.

No. The eligible consortium (center) is comprised of institutions in the United States only.

AORC grants may be used to pay all or a portion of the cost of establishing or operating a center or program, including—

• Cost of operation and maintenance of overseas facilities
• Cost of organizing and managing conferences
• Cost of teaching and research materials
• Cost of acquisition, maintenance, and preservation of library collections
• Cost of bringing visiting scholars and faculty to the center to teach or to conduct research
• Cost of faculty and staff stipends and salaries
• Cost of faculty, staff, and student travel
• Cost of publication and dissemination of materials for the scholarly and general public

In conducting these kinds of activities and more, the centers contribute to the generation of knowledge about a country or world region and they promote a greater understanding about the cultures in which the centers are located.

The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) has operated intensive summer and academic-year language programs in India for decades and has provided language training to nearly 4,000 students. The number of language programs has expanded in recent years; in addition to offering regular programs in Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil and Urdu, the Institute will operate summer programs in lesser-taught Indian languages upon demand, even for one student. The Institute’s intensive language programs provide invaluable training to students who need the language training in order to conduct their research projects or pursue their other career goals. AIIS provides practically the only opportunity for students to obtain this intensive training in these languages.

The American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) U.S. office and Istanbul center have assisted with a University of Pennsylvania, Middle East Center, U.S .Department of Education, Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program, "American Issues in a Global Context: Turkey in the World." This is a six-week study program for ten K-12 teachers who will participate in seminars in Istanbul and Ankara and travel in eastern Turkey (currently abroad). ARIT facilitated with the planning and provided program guides and speakers. The program is designed to globalize civics education by engaging the themes and language of American history and society and applying it to the secular Democratic Republic of Turkey. The seminar will engage issues such as borders, identity, race, and ethnicity by demonstrating the diversity of the Turkish experience. The organizer is a University of Pennsylvania graduate student and alumnus of the ARIT U.S. Department of Education Advanced Turkish language program.

The AORC program competition is generally held every four years.

The duration for AORC grants is up to 48 months.

The estimated average annual grant amount is $82,000.

No. This program does not have a cost-sharing or matching requirement.

Grant recipients are required to submit an interim report in the fall and an annual performance report in the spring through the International Resource Information System (IRIS). Grantees are expected to report on the following categories:

• Objectives and Accomplishments
• Collaboration Activities
• Adjustments to Project
• Exemplary Activities
• Priorities
• International Travel
• Center Information
• Center Contacts
• Researcher Profiles
• Center Activities/Services
• Publications
• Sources of U.S. Funding
• Budget – Use of Funds and Expected Use

All funded projects must have an evaluation plan for their grant and report on evaluation activities in accordance with that plan through the International Resource Information System (IRIS).

The evaluation plan should discuss goals, objectives, and performance measures to monitor progress, data gathering techniques, funding, and personnel. Activities should focus on both formative and summative evaluation. The formative evaluation will provide feedback to you on your progress in meeting goals and objectives and reveal areas for improvement. The summative evaluation should focus on outcomes and should be completed by an independent evaluator that does not have a relationship with your project.

Yes. The Department will use the following measures to evaluate the success of the AORC program:

Performance Measure 1: Percentage of AORC program projects judged to be successful by the program officer, based on a review of information provided in annual performance reports.

Performance Measure 2: Percentage of scholars who indicated they were "highly satisfied" with the services the Center provided.

Efficiency Measure: Cost per high-quality, successfully completed AORC project.

Applications are reviewed by panels of peers with area studies expertise, overseas research experience, and foreign language specialization. Reviewers are selected from the Office of Postsecondary Education Field Reader System. Review panels evaluate applications using the selection criteria in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations as well as the extent to which the applicant meets any announced priorities.

If your application is successful, we notify your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators first and subsequently send you a Grant Award Notification document. If your application is not selected for funding, we will notify you.

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