Academy for International-Intercultural

Higher Education

Expanding Higher Education Opportunities for America's

Minority and New-Immigrant Communities

&

Strengthening Minority-Serving Institutions in the U.S.

In addtion to a world in constant flux, the new millenium is witnessing the accelerated transformation of America into one of the most multicultural societies in the history of mankind. Indeed, rapid changes continue to take place in America's ethnic and racial composition with African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and other ethnic/racial minorities--including new immigrants--collectively becoming the fastest-growing segment of the nation's human capital wealth and having a pivotal role to play in helping America to forge a truly prosperous social, economic, and political future.

There is an urgent need in the United States to prepare the higher education leaders and faculty members--and to establish the new educational policies and programs--that will enhance significantly the overall educational achievements of the nation's minority and new-immigrant communities and ultimately forge a completely new minority and new-immigrant experience in U.S. higher education.  These U.S. communities are ideally positioned to help all Americans to recreate their society and their relationships with the rest of the world by bringing about a greater understanding of--and appreciate for--different cultures, both at home and abroad.  Indeed, so much of America's success depends on events taking place elsewhere--or in the isolated realities of the nation's diverse intercultural communities--that it is now impossible to attend to the domestic needs of the U.S. without an understanding of their intercultural and international context.

Thus, from its creation ICHEP has been dedicated to expanding the intercultural and international dimenions of higher education institutions in the U.S. and other countries.  For the United States alone, ICHEP is dedicated to:

• Enhancing higher education opportunities for America's minority  and new-immigrant communities, especially by acquiring fellowships (and other forms student financial aid) for members of these communities to pursue graduate-level studies in fields of growing need and demand in the U.S. and other countries;

• Contributing to the institutional capacity-building goals and needs of Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), especially Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions; and
  

• Contributing to the social and economic development of America's different Native American communities, especially through various initiatives for Nation-Building.