Opportunity Information: Apply for 72026818RFA00003
The Higher Education Scholarships (HES) Program is a USAID-funded education initiative designed to strengthen private sector competitiveness by improving workforce readiness and aligning education outcomes with real job opportunities. The program focuses on expanding access to quality higher education while ensuring that scholarship recipients graduate with practical, market-relevant capabilities. Beyond covering academic pathways, the opportunity emphasizes preparing beneficiaries to succeed in the labor market through a deliberate mix of technical training, soft skills development, and leadership preparation, so that graduates are not only credentialed but also job-ready and able to contribute effectively to employers and the broader economy.
This grant opportunity was issued by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), specifically USAID/Beirut in Lebanon, under the funding opportunity title "Higher Education Scholarships (HES) Program" and opportunity number 72026818RFA00003. It is categorized as a discretionary funding opportunity and uses a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument, which typically indicates that the donor expects substantial involvement during implementation, such as active collaboration on program design details, monitoring, or strategic adjustments. The activity category is Education and it is listed under CFDA number 98.001.
In terms of scope and scale, the opportunity is large, with an award ceiling of $46,000,000 and an expectation of making two awards. That structure suggests USAID intended to fund one or more implementing partners capable of managing a sizable scholarship portfolio and associated student support services, potentially including recruitment and selection processes, university coordination, academic monitoring, career preparation programming, and linkages with employers. While the public description highlights scholarship support and skills building, the underlying goal is explicitly tied to economic outcomes: producing graduates whose education and competencies translate into employment and improved competitiveness in the private sector.
Eligibility for applicants is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is open to any type of entity, subject to any clarifications that may appear in the full solicitation under the "Additional Information on Eligibility" section. Administrative details show the opportunity was created on December 14, 2017, with an original closing date of February 2, 2018, indicating it was a time-bound request for applications rather than a standing program. Overall, the HES Program can be understood as a workforce-oriented higher education scholarship initiative that combines financial access to education with structured employability and leadership development to better match graduate skills with labor market needs.Apply for 72026818RFA00003
- The Agency for International Development, Lebanon USAID-Beirut in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Higher Education Scholarships (HES) Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
- This funding opportunity was created on Dec 14, 2017.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 02, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $46,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.
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