[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 15]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR3405.4]

[Page 357-358]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
  CHAPTER XXXIV--COOPERATIVE STATE RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND EXTENSION 
                   SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 3405_HIGHER EDUCATION CHALLENGE GRANTS PROGRAM--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart B_Program Description
 
Sec. 3405.4  Purpose of the program.


    The Department of Agriculture is designated as the lead Federal 
agency for higher education in the food and agricultural sciences. In 
this context, CSREES has specific responsibility to initiate and support 
projects to strengthen college and university

[[Page 358]]

teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences. One national 
initiative for carrying out this responsibility is the competitive 
Higher Education Challenge Grants Program. A primary goal of the program 
is to attract and ensure a continual flow of outstanding students into 
food and agricultural sciences higher education programs and to provide 
them with an education of the highest quality available anywhere in the 
world and which reflects the unique needs of the Nation. It is designed 
to stimulate and enable colleges and universities to provide the quality 
of education necessary to produce baccalaureate or higher degree level 
graduates capable of strengthening the Nation's food and agricultural 
scientific and professional work force. It is intended that projects 
supported by the program will:
    (a) Address a State, regional, national, or international 
educational need;
    (b) Involve a creative or nontraditional approach toward addressing 
that need which can serve as a model to others;
    (c) Encourage and facilitate better working relationships in the 
university science and education community, as well as between 
universities and the private sector, to enhance program quality and 
supplement available resources; and
    (d) Result in benefits which will likely transcend the project 
duration and USDA support.