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Middle East Partnership Initiative Scholarship Program

The Department of State, in response to Congressional interest, developed and implemented a pilot scholarship  program for students from countries with a significant Muslim population.  OS and the Office of the Middle East  Partnership Initiative (NEA/PI) held an open competition among eligible Department-assisted schools in predominately Muslim countries to offer scholarships to host country students in locations in the Middle East and North Africa.  Congress designated funds for this program as part of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI, a Presidential Initiative that supports economic, political, and educational reform efforts in the Middle East and expanded opportunity for all people of the region, especially women and youth).  The funds, earmarked in the FY2006 Appropriations Bill, will have to be expended by September 30, 2012, guaranteeing that all students beginning the program are able to complete it.  Schools applying for a grant had to reside in a country served by MEPI, offer an accredited American/International curriculum for students in grades 7-12, have a Grant Request Automated  Submission Program (GRASP) on file with OS, and be receiving assistance from that office. 

OS awarded grants to four schools: American Community School, Amman, Jordan, for four full-time students; The American International School of Muscat, Muscat, Oman, for four full-time students; Schutz American School, Alexandria, Egypt, for two full-time students; and Rabat American School, Rabat, Morocco, for six full-time students to support 16 MEPI Scholars from grades 7 to 12 beginning September 2007.  Eight boys and eight girls were selected.   Fifteen were in grade 7 and one in grade 8.  Eleven students were 13 years old and five were 14 years old.  In addition, Congress has provided FY 2008 grant funding to the AmericanCommunitySchool, Beirut, Lebanon, to support 12-14 MEPI Scholars, half of whom began in September 2008. The other half will be selected and begin in September 2009.  Congress will also continue grant funding to the four Department-assisted schools who received funding for the first year of the pilot program in 2007-2008.

 
The MEPI Scholarship program is intended as a pilot to assess whether scholarship recipients from low and moderate income families can be enabled to learn critical thinking skills and gain a respect for diversity while fostering development of English-language skills.  These grants represent potential strategically significant opportunities, both in terms of meeting education program objectives and in meeting broader U.S. democracy-promotion goals.  In summary after the first year, all of the schools reported that each student did well academically and made excellent progress in learning and developing the skills that will lead to college matriculation.  In addition, the students’ English language skills progressed significantly.