The University of Wisconsin African Studies Program hosted a discussion Wednesday afternoon featuring UW Vice Provost and Dean of the International Division Frances Vavrus and other program directors. The discussion provided insights into the importance and future of international education amidst federal funding cuts.
In September 2025, the Department of Education sent Title VI International Education grant recipients notices of non-continuation, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Higher Education Act-Title VI funding plays a crucial role in international education in the U.S. and allows universities like UW to produce linguistically and culturally proficient graduates through grants for Foreign Language Area Study programs and National Resource Centers, according to the Institute for Regional and International Studies of UW.
“I’m acutely aware of the magnitude of the challenges before us with the loss of Title VI funding for eight of our centers and the implications of this loss for the students, staff and faculty affiliated with them,” Vavrus said.
Faculty director of the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies program Sara McKinnon talked about potential gains and losses if funding and priority shifts from discrete area study centers to globalization study centers.
A transnational center could be beneficial in bringing voices together because engaging with multiple perspectives beyond the Global North is important, according to McKinnon.
“A framework that is focused on transnational or North-South may really help us get at the dynamics of power and inequity that shape global communication and global relationships,” McKinnon said.
But, McKinnon said moving away from specific area studies and replacing them with global centers is risky because it limits deep contextual historical knowledge and loses focus on language training.
Director of the European studies program Mark Copelovitch discussed why area studies should not be dismissed even as the popularity of fields like AI and data science grows.
According to Copelovitch, biochemistry, zoology, molecular biology, and electrical engineering are all majors with undergraduate enrollments that dropped by 50% or more. On the logic of reorganizing funding based on such trends, Copelovitch asks if such majors should be defunded as a result.
Copelovitch said the practice of using such trends to predict student demand for social science and humanities is never done with STEM majors or fields.
“What you are majoring in is one thing, but the skills you are going to get at a liberal arts education at a research university are important and we need to invest in these things,” Copelovitch said.
Copelovitch said most of the political scientists and economists he encountered in Europe know of UW because of its area study centers. Area studies is what sets UW apart from other universities, Copelovitch said.
Copelovitch listed industry roles that would benefit from area studies and foreign language expertise, including officers in the US military, CEOs in multinational corporations and journalists covering world politics.
Director of the African Studies Program Jeremy Foltz used Wisconsin’s position in the global market of beer as a case study to reinforce the significance of area studies.
“Wisconsin has been at the forefront,” Foltz said. “But we’ve stagnated on consuming.”
Using Miller Brewing Company as an example, Foltzer said the company was no match for South African breweries in 2002 because the company persistently tried to sell the same Miller High Life Style beer that previously worked in the U.S. instead of adapting to African local tastes.
Regarding the importance of foreign language studies, Foltz said a 10% increase in Americans speaking or understanding Spanish at a high level would cultivate enough trade to grow U.S. GDP by 3% or by $90 billion.
“If you want a state that is not in stagnating industries, you need a globalized production and people who understand the global world,” Foltz said. “We should be investing in well-trained students who can be hired to do this kind of thing.”
