Dear IIENetwork Members, 

On Monday, November 12, 2012, the Institute of International Education will release the findings from Open Doors 2012, the annual report on student mobility. We will send out advance copies of the press release to reporters at the end of this week. 

The Open Doors report attracts significant media attention and provides your institution with an opportunity to showcase your involvement in international education as well as to relate to the press what the situation is on your campus. We suggest you work with your press office and your local media to localize the story and highlight international student enrollment or study abroad trends at your campus. Suggested story angles are outlined below.

IIE, together with the Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which funds this research, will hold a special briefing on Open Doors 2012 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on the morning of Tuesday, November 13, as part of the celebration of International Education Week.

The Chronicle of Higher Education plans to cover the new Open Doors data in their issue that comes out the week of November 12th. We expect to see national news coverage on foreign college students in the United States, as well as coverage of U.S. students studying abroad.

Prior to November 12, highlights of the new Open Doors data, as well as press releases and extensive background information are available on a password-protected, pre-embargo basis at our Open Doors data portal, at www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data.

You may use this special, temporary username/password combination: 

Username: member2012

Password: 2012@embargo 

***Please note: The release and all of the new Open Doors data is EMBARGOED until Monday, November 12. You may share this information with your public relations staff, and they in turn, may share it with your local media. The media must, however, agree to respect the November 12 embargo date before you can give them any data.***

After November 12, all data will be accessible through the main Open Doors gateway, at www.iie.org/opendoors. 

IIE President Allan Goodman will also be available for press interviews, and you may feel free to use the quotes from Dr. Goodman that appear in our Open Doors press release in your own materials as well.

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Possible Story Angles: 

• Is your campus among the top host campuses for international students overall, or in your Carnegie Classification? Is your campus among the top campuses for study abroad (total numbers or participation rate) overall or in your Carnegie Classification? How does your rank compare to last year? How does your state's rank compare to last year?

• Have you seen any particular increases or decreases in foreign students on your campus this year? Have you seen increases or decreases specifically among your undergraduate or graduate level enrollment of international students? Have your gains or losses been higher or lower than the national average, and the average for your state? Most states saw increases in their total numbers, but has your state seen a particularly strong increase (which contributes to the local economy)?
• Has your campus provided support services to foreign students and/or conducted programs to increase understanding between U.S. and foreign students? Has your campus provided special support to students affected by Arab Spring events?
• What are the nationalities of foreign students on your campus? You may wish to write up some brief profiles of foreign students on your campus who have agreed to be featured.
• Have you hosted more sponsored students in the past year, for example students sponsored by major government-funded scholarships from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Iraq and other countries?

• Have you seen an increase in the number of students studying abroad on your campus? Are students in more diverse fields of study going abroad? For those who saw a decrease in the number of students going abroad in 2009/10 (the year reported in Open Doors 2011), have these numbers now rebounded for 2010/11 (the year being reported in the  Open Doors 2012 report being released next week)? Also, do they seem to be continuing to increase in this current year? You may also wish to comment on anything you have done to make it easier and/or less expensive for students to study abroad.
• Destinations: what are the most popular study abroad destinations for your students? Are they going to perennially favorite destinations, or is there a trend toward non-traditional places?  Have you seen an increase in interest in studying in China or India, reflecting national trends toward study in these countries?  Are students going to Japan or Mexico, both of which saw disruptions in study abroad last year?
• Finances and Funding/Program Opportunities: Does your campus offer financial aid or special grant programs for study abroad? Do you have students going abroad with assistance from the Gilman Scholarship, Boren Scholarship, or other National Security Language Initiative programs, such as intensive summer language institutes, or on privately funded scholarship programs? Does your campus offer any scholarships that are listed on IIE's online directory www.studyabroadfunding.org?

This is also a good opportunity to contact your local paper and urge them to write an editorial on the benefits of international educational exchange to your campus and community, both in hosting foreign students, and having U.S. students gain valuable international experience by studying abroad.

A free copy of Open Doors 2012 is sent automatically to the survey respondent on each campus who provided data on international student flows, and to the international student designee of IIENetwork member campuses, as a benefit of your IIENetwork membership.

The print publication will be available in late January 2013. Open Doors 2012 can now be pre-ordered from the IIE Bookstore at www.iiebooks.org.