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Cornell University

Global Cornell

International Cornell Curriculum Grants

Grants Awarded for Five New Courses

Read about the ICC grant award recipients and the courses planned in collaboration with international partners.

Global Cornell is offering International Cornell Curriculum (ICC) grants of between $20,000 and $30,000 to create, develop, or improve curricula that provide students with international experiences, preferably with linkages to Cornell’s Global Hubs strategic partners or locations.

The call for submissions is now closed. 

Request for Proposals

ICC grants will support the planning, development, or advancement of new or existing for-credit, tuition-bearing courses, including the:

  • incorporation of faculty-led short-term international experiences (with travel) into existing courses.
  • joint development of a course in partnership with an international partner, providing an opportunity for students and faculty in different countries to collaborate on coursework, projects, or discussions as part of their coursework.
  • teaching of new, in-person semester-long courses to be taught abroad, which will be open to Cornell students and possibly to international partner students.

Note: A summary of models for consideration is available below.

Courses should be offered in concert with international partners abroad. We will preference applications that connect to partners in one of our Global Hubs institutions, but we are open to partnerships in alternate locations where Cornell has existing strong local connections. Please consider interdisciplinary, cross-college curricular innovations that incorporate experiential work with local partners. Most importantly, sustainable, long-term engagement is our goal.

Eligibility and Instructions for Submission

Applicants must be tenure track or RTE Cornell faculty. Applications must have the approval and expressed support of the department chair(s) of all faculty member(s) involved.

Use of Grant Funds

  • A $1,500 non-salary stipend per instructor (up to three instructors) for discretionary costs is allowed for each project. The instructor stipend may be provided to an international partner, a host community organization, or an NGO partner for their assistance in the program planning phase or to offset their investment in the partnership. 
  • Travel expenses to the site for course development (please do not include costs for instructors to lead the course or for students to participate in the course).
  • Costs to run program development workshops with international partner institution and/or host community organization or NGO.
  • Curriculum development costs (e.g., AV aids, course materials, hiring graduate students to assist in course development.
  • Up to 10 percent of the proposed budget may be allocated to a discretionary line to allow for budgetary flexibility over the course of the grant.

ICC grants are not intended to support:

  • standalone graduate-level courses that are not open to undergraduate students.
  • activities that are not sustainable beyond the grant period.
  • student tuition or travel expenses.

Application Process

  1. By June 15, 2022, submit a letter of intent (LOI) using the LOI template available in Box (login required) to iccgrants@cornell.edu. The LOI does not need to include budget information. If you have questions in preparing your LOI, senior staff from the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs (OVPIA) may be able to provide points of connectivity at Cornell or within a partner institution or help you strengthen your submission. Reach out to iccgrants@cornell.edu and let us know what support you need (e.g., partner identification, collaborators on campus working in similar areas, program model explanations). We will connect you with the OVPIA team member who is best suited to assist.

  2. After receiving LOI feedback from the review committee, applicants who are invited to submit a full proposal will complete the online application form using a link that will be shared and will outline further details about the project and a budget using the budget template available in Box (login required). Members of the OVPIA team will be available for support as you work through this process. Faculty must also include a letter of support from the department chair(s) of all participating faculty member(s), prepared using the letter of support template available in Box (login required).

Please reach out to Sebnem Ozkan with questions about the application process. 

Award Details 

Funding will be distributed by Global Cornell to the primary faculty recipient by departmental fund transfer. The department is responsible for the management of the grant, sustainability of the course, and required project reporting to OVPIA.

Potential Models for Consideration

Course(s) with Short-term Faculty-led International Travel Component

The timing and length of travel depend on the options below. Credits are dependent on the mode of instruction, hours, and length. 

Possible models for incorporating travel into a course:

Faculty-Led Spring Course

Credits Earned: Spring
Credits: 3–5
Travel Takes Place: Spring Break
Length of Travel: approximately one week

Features: A spring break-only trip will not qualify for academic credit on its own, but it can be included as an embedded part of the on-campus course. These courses usually have some instruction delivered before and after departure. The course is designed and led by one (or more) Cornell faculty member(s) who travel abroad with a group of Cornell students. This model offers students a direct and supervised short-term international experience. It is ideal for students who want an experience that mirrors Cornell’s academic standards.

There are two options: 1) All students are required to complete both on-campus and abroad components, or 2) the abroad component is optional and for additional credit.

In both cases:

  • There is no additional tuition charge because built into the semester load
  • The course may fit into the faculty's load or college agrees to pay overload, or the faculty takes overload without course compensation
  • The student costs including program fee and airfare are covered by participants and/or supported by other funding sources
  • Faculty travel costs are paid by Global Cornell or other funding sources or built into the cost for students
Sandwich Course (fall and spring courses that sandwich around winter travel)

Credits Earned: Spring
Credits: 3–5
Travel Takes Place: Winter break
Length of Travel: Approximately two weeks

Features: This is a winter break trip embedded as part of a "sandwiched" on-campus course. The course is designed and led by one (or more) Cornell faculty member(s) who also travel abroad with a group of Cornell students. This model offers students a direct and supervised short-term international experience. Ideal for students who want an experience that mirrors Cornell’s academic standards.

  • Fall course (full semester or second 7-week), winter break field trip, and spring course (full semester or first 7-week)
  • Students must complete all three of the course components for credit and grade
  • There is no additional tuition charge because the course is built into the semester load
  • The course may fit into the faculty's load or college agrees to pay overload, or the faculty takes overload without course compensation
  • The student costs including program fee and airfare are covered by participants and/or supported by other funding sources
  • Faculty travel costs are paid by Global Cornell or other funding sources or built into the cost for students
Standalone Summer or Winter Course with Travel to an International Location

Travel Takes Place: Summer or winter
Length of Travel: Can vary from ~one week up to eight weeks

Features: The grant applicant should guarantee that there will be funds from other sources to provide all students equitable access to summer or winter courses since currently, institutional grant aid is not available for these semesters.

  • With one or more international partners or faculty

  • Credits dependent on the mode of instruction, hours, and length

  • Students pay tuition and travel and program fees

  • Faculty travel costs are paid by Global Cornell or built into the cost to students

Online Learning and Virtual Education

Attributes and timing:

  • One or more international partners
  • Fall or semester course
  • With or without a travel component

Length of travel:

  • Dependent on design

Other features:

  • Collaborations are developed by partnering faculty (one Cornell faculty member partnering with a minimum of one partner institution faculty member) who want to enrich their courses with student interaction and collaborative learning. Faculty work together to design and implement the collaboration; there’s flexibility to customize and include interdisciplinary approaches.
  • Cornell issues Cornell students' credit; partner institution issues partner students' credit.
  • Faculty-to-faculty collaboration on course planning, design, and implementation. Students from two or more institutions collaborate in discussions and/or a project.
  • The course can be synchronous or asynchronous.
  • Credits are dependent on the mode of instruction, hours, and length.
  • Courses should be technologically innovative.
  • The course can have international travel add-on potential. 

On-site Course Instruction at Partner University

Attributes and timing:

  • Varies by location

  • The ideal is a Cornell course and credit with the possibility of cross-listing with partner courses of study.

Length of travel:

  • Semester-long course

  • First or second 7-week session

  • Embedded into partner’s course (seminar) structure (two to three weeks)

Other features:

  • Department counts teaching toward teaching load obligations

  • Open to Cornell and non-Cornell students

  • Co-teaching possibility with partner faculty

  • Engaged and applied learning opportunities

Course design and development for Cornell and/or partner exchange students

Attributes and timing: 

  • With one or more international partners or faculty

  • Taught at partner university or Cornell, or both

Length of travel:

  • Semester-long

  • First or second 7-week session at Cornell

  • Pre-term teaching module at Cornell or partner university

Other features:

  • Diverse course foci could include multidisciplinary, intercultural, engaged learning, language, and culture, history (local and national), and graduate school preparation.

  • Demonstrable unique student learning outcomes

  • Benefits for other campus stakeholders

Note: Other models are possible, but not part of this call for proposals.