The Institute of International Education (IIE), together with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, released the latest news on international students in the United States and U.S. students studying abroad. The Open Doors findings were the topic of a briefing on November 13 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, with Assistant Secretary of State Ann Stock and IIE President Allan Goodman, in conjunction with the worldwide observance of International Education Week.  The event included a presentation of the data and a lively conversation about international education among the assembled group of more than 200 educators, US and foreign government representatives, international associations, and members of the press.

To access the new data and background information to help explain the trends, go to www.iie.org/opendoors. 

On the Open Doors website, you can find: 

-    Key data tables for both study abroad and international student statistics for the last 10 years

-    Country Fact Sheets with trends for the top 25 sending countries

-    State Fact Sheets for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia

-    The PowerPoint presentation and audio recording from the Open Doors briefing on November 13

-    A link to the video of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging students to study abroad 

-    And visit the Open Doors multimedia page again later this week to see photos and videos of the briefing. 

As you may have seen, this year’s news on international educational exchange has received very strong press coverage nationally and internationally. We have also seen good local coverage, no doubt thanks to the good work of individual campuses working to promote their own statistics and activities.  Congratulations to all, and we hope your international education week is going well.

Here are links to a few major news stories, and you will be able to see more clips on our "In the News" page as the week goes on.

AP News Wire story – this has been published in major newspapers across the country

www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-colleges-foreign-students-17695848 

USA Today 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

www.chronicle.com/article/China-Continues-to-Drive/135700/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en 

LA Times 

This year’s WISE Prize for Education has been awarded to Dr. Madhav Chavan, a former chemistry lecturer who devised a simple formula to bring education and literacy to millions at minimum cost.  

 

The Laureate of the 2012 WISE Prize for Education was announced at the opening plenary session of the fourth World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, before more than 1,200 innovators from over 100 countries, including figures from the worlds of social enterprise, business, government, media and education.

 

After completing a Ph.D. in the USA, Chavan returned to India in 1986 to teach Chemistry at the University of Mumbai. He was struck by the plight of the city’s poor, and he applied his scientific training to create a solution of beautiful simplicity.

 

Chavan saw that education was the main barrier to India’s development and that action was required that would bring rapid results. Leveraging the power of collaboration from the outset, he joined forces with UNICEF and the city government to ensure "every child in school and learning well".

 

Using his passion for social justice as a catalyst, he launched a mission to create large-scale impact at low cost. The reaction produced by combining the primary elements of government infrastructure, corporate resources and citizen volunteerism had striking results in bringing literacy to Mumbai’s slum children. Furthermore  the formula easily passed the scientific tests of scalability and replicability and spread rapidly across the country.

 

Today the mission has expanded to 17 of India’s 28 states and Pratham, the NGO of which Chavan is co-founder and CEO, is the largest non-governmental provider of basic literacy and numeracy for underprivileged children in India. Its programs now address pre-school education, learning support to both in-school and out-of-school children, computer literacy, vocational training and special programs for vulnerable and working children.

 

Chavan’s scientific method includes monitoring and evaluation. Thanks to a nationwide voluntary effort, Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) measures quantitative and qualitative parameters including enrollment  facilities and learning outcomes. The model has now been replicated in a number of countries in Asia and Africa.

 

The WISE Prize for Education was established in 2010 as the world’s premier recognition of an outstanding, world-class contribution to education by an individual or team.  The Laureate receives an award of $500,000 (US) and a specially minted gold medal.

For more information, go to: www.wise-qatar.org.

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education discusses a recent study tour of CFOs of U.S. higher education institutions to Germany to explore the lean operations of Germany’s universities. 

"Organized by the Institute of International Education and the German-American Fulbright Commission and billed as a showcase in how to "do more with less," the group toured a variety of higher-education institutions in Berlin and other cities... In all, the Americans did find German universities to be more efficient than their U.S. counterparts." 

Read the full article at: 

www.chronicle.com/article/American-Administrators-Get a/135738/?key=Gzp3JwRsMCpLZHozY25LYT5QPyRpY04janNJPnIjblpUFA%3D%3D.

A new research report, Beyond More of the Same: The Top Four Emerging Markets for International Student Recruitment, by World Education Services (WES) identifies four new emerging markets for international student recruitment.

"Today, one in two international students in the U.S. comes from China, India, or Korea. U.S. higher education institutions are realizing the risk associated with over-reliance on a handful of countries and are grappling for insights and information to diversify their international student mix to other emerging markets. The new research report by WES addresses this gap by systematically identifying key emerging markets and informing near-term strategies for higher education institutions to successfully nurture these markets."

To access the report, go to: www.wes.org/ewenr/12oct/feature.htm. 

Join the ACE Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement and the Boston College Center for International Higher Education for an interactive discussion of emerging trends and strategies for institutional collaboration and partnerships overseas.  Whether your institution already maintains an array of international relationships or is venturing abroad for the first time, our panel of experts will provide insights and advice to help you navigate the complexities of global engagement.  

Presented as part of the International Briefs for Higher Education Leaders series, the webinar will consist of three expert presentations followed by a question and answer period.  Topics to be addressed include:

• The International Perspective: Advice from experienced partner institutions abroad on building successful collaborations 

• Dotting the I’s and Crossing the T’s: Key legal issues surrounding international ventures

• Creating a Global Learning Community: Extending the campus through global engagement 

For more information and to register, please visit: www.acenet.edu/events/Pages/Institutional-Strategies-for-Global-Engagement.aspx.

The Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program for Iraq is designed to bring junior Iraqi scholars to U.S. host institutions for faculty development, mentoring, and cultural exchange activities. The intent of the ten-week program is to equip scholars with the knowledge and tools needed to build the capacity of universities in Iraq and to advance the education of future generations of Iraqis. In addition, it lays the foundation for Iraqi scholars and their U.S. hosts to develop long-term institutional relationships and to identify areas of cooperation that can be sustained beyond the grant period. 

Through this request for proposal, IIE’s Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) seeks five host institutions to implement the ten-week summer program scheduled to be held from June 29, 2013 through September 7, 2013. Approximately seven scholars will be placed in disciplined-based cohorts at each of the five selected U.S. host institutions. U.S. host institutions are to submit a proposal to host scholars in one of the following disciplines: American Literature; Engineering; Political Science; Science and Technology; TEFL/linguistics.

Participating institutions will enjoy a unique opportunity to establish lasting relationships with faculty members at universities in Iraq and to build upon current efforts to internationalize their campuses and surrounding communities.

Funded by the U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Iraq and supported by U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), this program is administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), a division of the Institute of International Education (IIE).

For more information about program goals, host institution eligibility requirements, and application information, please go to: www.cies.org/Fulbright/Iraq/. 

Under a new grant from Ford Foundation, the Hong Kong America Center– a non-profit consortium of Hong Kong universities–is announcing the South China Internship Program (SCI) a national competition for 20 American undergraduates to participate in a low-cost, high-quality "tandem internships". The twenty American undergraduates will team-up with twenty same-age Chinese university students to spend eight weeks together in summer 2013 as interns in companies and NGOs in the booming Pearl River Delta of south China. 

The intern teams will work together in small teams on joint projects for their company hosts. Inspired by the 100,000 Strong Initiative, HKAC is looking for young Americans with strong academics and high motivation to explore their career potential involving China. Some knowledge of Chinese language is preferred. International Offices in American universities are urged to convey this information to eligible undergraduate students. The deadline for applications is January 14, 2013.

Online poster, application form and full program information is at: www.cuhk.edu.hk/hkac/scip.html. Prospective applicants may contact Mr. Ray Tran of the HKAC at: raytran@eservices.cuhk.edu.hk.

The Fulbright Public Policy Fellowship is a component of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, inaugurated in 2012. The Fellowship allows fellows to serve in professional placements as "special assistants" in foreign government ministries or institutions and to gain hands-on public sector experience in participating foreign countries while simultaneously carrying out an academic research/study project.

U.S. Embassies, Fulbright Commissions (where applicable), and host country governments will coordinate appropriate professional placements for candidates in public policy areas including, but not limited to, public health, education, agriculture, justice, energy, environment, public finance, economic development, information technology, and communications.

Candidates must be in receipt of a master's or J.D. degree by the beginning of the Fellowship or be currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program. Applicants must also have at least two years of work experience in public policy-related fields. Applicants may apply to following countries: Bangladesh, Burma, Cote d’lvoire, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Nepal, and Samoa.

For more information, please visit: www.fulbright.state.gov/grants/fulbright-public-policy-fellowship.