Funding To NTID Tops $7M For International Project

The Nippon Foundation of Japan has awarded another $1.1 million to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf-sponsored Postsecondary Education Network–International to continue its work in expanding career and education opportunities for deaf people around the world. This brings to $7 million the total award given to the program, which has become a world model in influencing attitudes, practices and policies among educators and industry leaders so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing have increased access to technology and employment.

PEN-International works with colleges and universities in China, the Czech Republic, Japan, the Philippines, Russia, and Thailand, and plans to partner with colleges in Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong this year.

This year’s initiatives include a Summer Leadership Institute based in England and open to students from PEN partner colleges, workshops in Vietnam and Hong Kong to develop sign language dictionaries, and a Nippon Foundation Internship Program for master’s level students at Rochester Institute of Technology.

PEN-International will continue to provide training at Tianjin University of Technology (China), Bauman Moscow State Technical University (Russia) and De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (Philippines). Regional training will be held at National-Tsukuba University of Technology (Japan).

For more information about PEN-International and its global partners, visit www.pen.ntid.rit.edu.

NTID is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. One of eight colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology, NTID offers educational programs and access and support services to 1,100 deaf and hard-of-hearing students from around the world who study, live and socialize with 14,400 hearing students on RIT's Rochester, N.Y., campus. Web address www.rit.edu/NTID. Visit www.rit.edu/NTID/newsroom for more NTID news.