WASHINGTON, D.C. (CitizenWire) — The U.S. State Department’s Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is pleased to announce the launch of the second phase of its Tomorrow’s Leaders Scholarship program. The program provides scholarship support to deserving but needy Arab students for study at three leading universities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The Tomorrow’s Leaders program identifies highly motivated male and female students with demonstrated academic ability and leadership potential that may lack the financial resources to obtain a university education. The university hosts – American University in Cairo (AUC), the American University in Beirut (AUB), and the Lebanese American University (LAU) – will provide four-to-five year academic matriculation and community service opportunities for 51 secondary school graduates from the MENA region. America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc. (AMIDEAST) will manage recruitment and screening for scholarship recipients, who will matriculate in fall 2011.
MEPI recently awarded $8,500,000 to AMIDEAST, AUC, AUB, and LAU to implement the second phase of the Tomorrow’s Leaders Scholarship program. MEPI selected the winning grant recipients from a pool of applicants who responded to the fall 2009 Tomorrow’s Leaders II Scholarship Program and Recruitment Request for Applications.
“Tomorrow’s Leaders” contributes to MEPI’s vision of pluralistic, prosperous, and participatory societies in the MENA region, with a specific focus on building partnerships that enhance cultural understanding, democratic institution building, knowledge sharing, and economic development between U.S. and Middle East/North Africa-based students. To learn more about MEPI, please visit www.mepi.state.gov.