Pitt's International Studies Center Earns Grant to Study Underrepresented Minorities in International Education

PITTSBURGH—The University Center for International Studies (UCIS) at the University of Pittsburgh has received funding for the first year of a two-year national study, "The Institutional Context of Underrepresented Minorities in International Education: Public Four-Year Colleges and Universities." The $107,891 grant is from the U.S. Department of Education under the International Research and Studies Program of Title VI of the Higher Education Act.

Total cost of the two-year study is $220,889, and funding for the second year is anticipated from the U.S. Department of Education, according to UCIS Associate Director Wolfgang Schloer.

Based on a survey that will target all 529 public four-year institutions of higher education in the United States, the study will examine the effects of institutional factors on the participation of undergraduate ethnic and racial minorities in international education opportunities.

"To date, there has been no large-scale study of how institutional procedures, policies, or structures succeed or fail at overcoming underrepresentation," said Schloer. "Thus, no reliable data exists on which to base policy recommendations, funding decisions, or program development. Our proposed research will directly result in improved knowledge about how higher education institutions can overcome underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in international studies."

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