The Emergency Student Fund of the Institute of International Education (IIE) will make 46 grants to assist Syrian students on U.S. college and university campuses who face urgent financial need due to the current situation in Syria. These grants are made possible in part by generous support from members of the Syrian-American community who share IIE’s commitment to helping Syrian students remain enrolled in their U.S. degree programs so that they will be better prepared to assist their country in the future.

IIE received 51 nominations from 39 colleges and universities in 21 states across the United States. This represents approximately 10 percent of the Syrian students currently studying in the U.S. The nominees are from every level of higher education, from intensive English programs to medical scholars pursuing research fellowships. Many are master’s degree students in science and technology fields. All are facing situations in which families at home can no longer help fund their studies because their cities are under siege, they have had to flee the country, or they are no longer able to work due to the political upheaval.

After putting out a call for nominations in February, IIE received twice as many nominations as it was able to support. The Institute reached out to Jusoor, a newly founded organization focused on mobilizing the global Syrian expatriate community around Syrian economic development initiatives, and the American Syrian Arab Cultural Association (ASACA), a nonprofit, nonpolitical, social, cultural, and educational organization. Contributions from donors associated with Jusoor and ASACA, as well as the Foundation of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), have enabled IIE to provide additional grants.

Priority was given to the 46 nominated students who are currently enrolled in full-time degree programs and have demonstrated substantial need. As part of the nomination and award process, U.S. host colleges and universities are being asked to contribute to the support of the selected Syrian students through provision of tuition waivers, loans, housing, meal plans, or other forms of support.

Since 2010, IIE’s Emergency Student Fund has provided over $1 million in emergency grants to nearly 400 students from Japan, Haiti, Libya, and Thailand whose home sources of financial support were impacted by crises or natural disasters in their home countries. The Institute created the Emergency Student Fund to respond quickly to help students when emergencies arise. Building on a Freeman Foundation designation of $2.5 million for emergencies involving students from East and Southeast Asia studying in the U.S., IIE is issuing a request to donors to support this fund for other world areas.

To learn more and to contribute, please visit www.iie.org/ESF.

 

On March 8-9, the Institute of International Education hosted the 2012 Best Practices Conference at its global headquarters in New York City. IIE is pleased to announce that the IIE Best Practices Conference 2012 website is now live. IIE invites you to view valuable speaker and panel session videos and download PowerPoint presentations, to help you and your colleagues make the most of the best practices that were featured at the conference. You can also see photos of the events, download the conference program, and download presentations from the roundtable sessions that were held on March 8.

We also encourage you to visit our Best Practices Archive. This archive features profiles of the winners of the annual Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education, along with honorable mention and special recognition recipients.

 

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is pleased to announce the publication of a new briefing paper, English-Taught Master’s Programs in Europe: New Findings on Supply and Demand. This briefing paper, which was produced through IIE’s new Center for Academic Mobility Research, provides a detailed, data-drive look at the burgeoning growth of English-taught master’s programs in Europe. The authors, Megan Brenn-White and Edwin van Rest, examine statistics that they have obtained from MastersPortal.eu, an online directory and comprehensive source of information about postgraduate degree programs in Europe. The authors examine the growth of English-taught master’s programs in Europe, including the total number of programs offered by country and academic discipline, their duration, and data on prospective students.

To download the briefing paper, please visit www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Publications-and-Reports/IIE-Bookstore/English-Language-Masters-Briefing-Paper.

 

An article in The Economist considers the importance of Brazil’s groundbreaking Science Without Borders Program, concluding that "In the 1960s and 1970s the government paid for PhDs abroad in oil exploration, agricultural research and aircraft design. Brazil is now a world leader in all three fields." The Institute of International Education was chosen to manage the program for U.S. universities. As Allan Goodman, the President and CEO of IIE, noted: "The scale and speed of this programme are unprecedented."

To read the full article, please visit: www.economist.com/node/21550306.

 

The Boston College Center for International Higher Education just announced the release of the Spring 2012 issue of International Higher Education. This issue features articles on "European Student Mobility" and "The Necessity of Leadership," along with regional features on three world regions: Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

To download the issue, please visit: www.bc.edu/research/cihe/ihe.html.

 

An article in University World News reports that "officials in Europe are pressing on with plans to expand its flagship student mobility programme beyond the borders of existing eligible countries despite the economic crisis." This program, Erasmus for All, could expand to a global level within two years, according to the article.

To read the full article, please visit: www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120315214127715.

 

March 22-24, 2012
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Institute of International Education’s Sub-Saharan Africa Office announces the upcoming conference, "Enhancing the Quality of English Language Education in Ethiopia." This conference will be hosted at Ambo University from March 22-24, 2012, with the purpose of envisioning a new future of English language education in Ethiopia. While the focus will be on teaching at the university level, instruction at the primary and secondary level will also be incorporated.

This event, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia in partnership with the Institute of International Education and with support from the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, will engage a methodology called Future Search. Future Search uses a rigorous, set process to help people understand their past, acknowledge their present, develop a common vision, and create action plans for the future. What makes Future Search powerful is that everyone who has a stake in the issue is represented. In a Future Search conference, participants acknowledge and understand their differences, and then seek to discover common ground that all can support.

The desired outcomes are to identify common goals in English teaching-learning; to develop collaborative mechanisms for improving the English language teaching-learning process; to expand linkages within the education system; and for stakeholders to commit to a partnership that draws on these tools to enhance English language education in Ethiopia.

For more information, please contact Cheryl Francisconi, Director of the IIE Sub-Saharan Africa Office, at cfrancisconi@iie.org.

 

Newport, Rhode Island
November 1-3, 2012

The University of Rhode Island is pleased to announce the 15th annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education. Founded 15 years ago by the International Engineering Program (IEP) at the University of Rhode Island, the purpose of this colloquium is to provide a forum to discuss and share issues and ideas related to the field. The colloquium provides engineering and language educators, international program administrators, deans, provosts, presidents, corporate leaders, public sector representatives, and students common ground to talk about educating engineers for today's global workplace.

For more information and to register, please visit, www.uri.edu/iep/colloquia/2012/index.html. For questions, please contact Sigrid Berka at sberka@uri.edu.

 

June 10-12, 2012
Helsinki, Finland

The 2012 Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) Annual Conference, which is organized in cooperation with the Finnish Centre for International Mobility (CIMO), will take place from June 10-12 in Helsinki, Finland. This year's ACA Annual Conference bears the title, "Tying It All Together," and will look at four issues: internationalization, excellence, funding, and the social dimension.

For more information and to register, please visit: www.aca-secretariat.be/index.php?id=560.

 

Deadline: March 31, 2012

The deadline to complete the U.S. Study Abroad survey for the upcoming Open Doors Report is March 31, 2012. The U.S. Study Abroad Survey captures data on U.S. students traveling abroad for academic credit and is part of our annual Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. The Open Doors Report, supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, has long been regarded as the authoritative source for statistical data on international student flows to the U.S. IIE’s research team relies on the efforts of dedicated individuals from each U.S. institution to help keep these statistics as current and accurate as possible.

If you have any questions about the survey, need to update your institution’s contact, or require an extension, please send an email to iieresearch@iie.org or call (212) 984-5348.

 

Deadline to Apply: May 31, 2012

The British Council and the Social Science Research Council are pleased to announce the launch of Our Shared Past, a collaborative grants program to encourage new approaches to world history curriculum and curricular content design in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and North America. The deadline to apply is May 31, 2012.

Our Shared Past grants will promote the development of international scholarly communities committed to analyzing history curriculum and reframing the teaching of world history through the identification of new scholarship and the development of new curricular content that illustrate shared cultural, economic, military, religious, social, and scientific networks and practices as well as shared global norms and values that inform world history and society. Our Shared Past is a program of the British Council and the Social Science Research Council with support provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Eligibility
Grants will be made to research teams or research centers on U.S. university campuses, including, but not limited to, Title VI National Resource Centers. While we especially encourage research teams/consortia that include partner institutions from the United Kingdom and/or the Middle East/North Africa region, the principal investigator must be based at a U.S. university.

Funding Priorities
Funds are available to projects that develop robust networks of faculty that possess the expertise to study existing world history curriculum (K–14, i.e., at pre-collegiate and collegiate levels) in a specific national or regional setting and that are positioned to propose alternative curriculum design based on that scholarship.

Priority consideration will be given to applicants with a demonstrated ability to reform curriculum design and identify partner organizations/individuals that can help to put scholarly content or specific recommendations in the hands of educators and policy-makers who can influence curriculum reform at national and local levels. In the case of public events, this may include identifying non-university partners who can successfully draw appropriate audiences to the theme as well as partners who will disseminate research findings strategically.

Application Process
Applications must be submitted online through the SSRC application portal: www.ssrc.org/fellowships/our-shared-past/. All applications are due by May 31, 2012.

Additional Information and Questions
To learn more, visit the program webpage at: www.ssrc.org/fellowships/our-shared-past/. For further information, please contact the program directly at osp@ssrc.org.

 

October 2-5, 2012
Melbourne, Australia
Deadline to Submit a Session Proposal: April 2, 2012

The 2012 Australian International Education Conference will take place from October 2-5, 2012, in Melbourne, Australia. This conference will explore the role international education, training, and research will play in the 21st century. The emphasis will be on how Australia, and other countries and regions, might work together and in partnership with Asia to help shape this "Asian Century."

The Conference will examine the potential for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, focused on the mutual needs of Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, and Africa. It will take the form of a global dialogue and practice-oriented sessions encompassing both the strategic policy issues as well as the practical realities on the ground. The program will explore deep engagement and understanding between Asia, Australia, and the rest of the world; achieving the mutuality of partnerships; good business outcomes; and meeting the needs and expectations of students, teachers, and researchers in Asia and beyond.

The deadline to submit a session proposal is April 2, 2012. For more information, please visit: www.aiec.idp.com/home.aspx.

 

An article in University World News reports on the U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Initiatives roundtable that the Institute of International Education hosted during its 2012 Best Practices Conference. The article focuses on initiatives such as the groundbreaking Science Without Borders program, which provides scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students from Brazil for studies at colleges and universities in the United States and other countries.

To read the full article, please visit: www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2012031523350556.

 

With an unprecedented number of requests for assistance; outreach trips to Ghana, Texas, and the MENA conference in Washington, D.C.; and the start of the new Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) Hite Awards Program, the fall and winter months have been especially busy at IIE’s Scholar Rescue Fund. SRF is pleased to be able to share special highlights of the Global program’s activities from fall 2011 and winter 2012 in this briefing, which marks the beginning of a regular series. Click here to read about these activities and more.

Get Your SRF Brochures Today to Share SRF’s Work with Others!
Below is in an example of the exterior of the SRF information brochure. Please contact Andrea Bergart at abergart@iie.org if you would like us to send you free copies.