The U.S. Department of Education said today that it planned to set aside a portion of the 2007 budget for the Fund for the Improvement for Postsecondary Education for an international competition supporting collaboration with Russia.

The department already conducts four focused competitions within the fund, which is known as Fipse. They encourage collaboration between colleges in the United States and counterparts in Brazil, Canada, Europe, and Mexico.

In a notice in today’s Federal Register announcing the new set-aside, the department said the program was “based upon the need for increased interconnectedness between the U.S. and Russia in order to operate effectively in a global economy.”

Word that the Education Department planned to reserve money for a new international competition came a month after a program officer at Fipse told The Chronicle that the department planned to set aside almost half of the program’s budget for special projects, leaving only $3.4-million for the general competition. The department has not yet announced whether it will designate additional money for other focused competitions. —Kelly Field