The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, funded by the Freeman Foundation, is a multi-year initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching and learning about China, Japan, and Korea in world history, geography, social studies, and literature courses. Launched in 1998, this nationwide program is a collaboration of the East Asian Studies Programs of several coordinating institutions, such as Columbia University, the Five College Center for East Asian Studies, Indiana University, and the University of Colorado.
In 2003, Princeton joined the Columbia branch of the initiative and began hosting four to five Saturday seminars each semester. The program is intended to prepare teachers to teach about Asia, enrich the content of Asia in classrooms, and to work toward creating a more long-term presence for Asia in American schools.