The University of San Diego announced Wednesday that its Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies was selected to collaborate with a Colombian university on a program aimed at increasing student exchange and training opportunities throughout the Americas.
Kroc School students will work with representatives from the Corporacion Universitaria Minuto de Dios in Bogota, Colombia. It’s one of 11 partnerships in the Innovation Fund grant program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Colombian Institute of Educational Loans and Studies Abroad.
A $25,000 grant will be matched with Kroc School funds for the creation of a U.S.-Colombia bidirectional exchange program. Colombian students will take part in the yearlong Global Social Innovation Challenge at USD, and U.S. students will visit Colombia to learn how to solve social issues and pacify conflict.
“Winning an Innovation Fund Grant is a validation of the Kroc School’s distinctive collaborative learning model in social innovation and peacebuilding,” said Patricia Marquez, dean of the Kroc School. “This grant will enable co-creation, with our partner Uniminuto, of solutions to existing challenges in the region.”
Other recent Innovation Fund grants will allow partnerships between U.S. universities and higher education institutions in the Caribbean and Canada.
Since January 2014, the Innovation Fund has awarded 168 grants to 325 higher education teams from 25 countries in the Western Hemisphere.
— City News Service
