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CORVALLIS - Oregon State University International Programs has won more than $1 million in grants for six proposals submitted in collaboration with several OSU colleges and partner institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Two of grants are funded by the U.S. Office of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

A three-year, $264,854 grant will fund a new program to help university students develop a context for the learning of a second language and learning about other cultures. It will combine resources from OSU's International Programs and Environmental Science Program to create the International Environmental Sciences Program, said Jack Van de Water, dean of OSU's International Programs.

One of the partners in that effort will be ITESM Campus Guaymas, Mexico.

"This program is expected to provide a model for educating undergraduate students for the careers of the 21st century," Van de Water said.

The second Office of Education grant allocates $186,000 for a three-year period to develop a "Transatlantic Academic Student Internship Program." The grant was awarded to the International Programs Office at Oregon State and will be administered as part of Global Graduates - the statewide Oregon International Internship Program. The program establishes a framework for student exchange programs comprising three U.S. universities and five European institutions.

A partnership between OSU and two South African institutions will receive $100,000 from the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development. To strengthen forestry programs in South Africa, OSU will work with the University of Fort Hare and the Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry. Objectives include designing and implementing research and outreach programs in agroforestry and community forestry and identify opportunities for student and faculty exchanges.

A $118,996 grant from the United States Information Agency to OSU will support a linkage between Oregon and Tunisia.

The partnership will engage eight affiliated institutions from Tunisia and Oregon in a faculty exchange to develop English for Special Purposes in Tunisia, to strengthen business and environmental faculties in Tunisia, and to create links between higher education institutions in Tunisia and Oregon.

A Baltics Resident Adviser Project has been extended for one year with a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jointly held by the OSU Animal Science Department and Office of International Research and Development, the project provides technical assistance to USDA foreign agricultural service projects in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Projects in dairy management, dairy genetics, farm management, forage and grain trials have been conducted.

The Office of International Research and Development has also received a $5,600 World Bank contract to provide a two-week training program for Yemeni Community College Teacher Educators. Participants spent two weeks in August studying with OSU Education faculty and making study visits to Lane, Umpqua, and Linn-Benton community colleges. The program is part of a five-year project in which OSU is helping the government of Yemen develop a community college system.