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