There is still time to register for the IIE/Education USA STEM Fair Circuit in Latin America. The circuit starts in Mexico City on April 21 and finishes in Santiago, Chile on May 6. Visit the site to view the full schedule.   

With an anticipated audience of nearly 2,000 students interested in undergraduate, graduate, and intensive English programs in the U.S., Santiago, Chile will host one of the largest fairs in the South American circuit. 

The Becas Chile government scholarship program offers more opportunities than ever for Chilean students to receive full funding for their U.S. studies, particularly at the graduate level. This ambitious program was launched in 2008, and aims to send 30,000 Chileans to higher education institutions abroad by 2017. Until now, the program has awarded over 5,000 scholarships, most for degree seeking students. The United States has been one of the leading destinations for Becas Chile scholarship recipients over the past four years.

Attendees at the fair in Chile will have the chance to recruit highly qualified students, along with the opportunity to learn more about the Becas Chile program and its requirements to sign a MoU with the Chilean Ministry of Education. Chile has one of the most stable economies in Latin America and is considered a safe and attractive option for Americans who are interested in studying abroad.

Additionally, the Ritz Carlton in Santiago is offering schools that come to the fair a free night  between May 5 and May 7.

For more information about Chile’s recruitment potential, or to request assistance scheduling meetings, please contact Dr. Lee Z. Ullmann, Director of EducationUSA at lee.ullmann@umayor.cl, or visit:  http://www.educationusa.cl/.

For more information or to register, visit www.iie.org/fairs. 

A recent report by World Education Services (WES), entitled "International Student Mobility Trends 2013: Towards Responsive Recruitment Strategies," identifies recent student mobility trends and offers actionable recruitment recommendations for higher education institutions. The findings are based on a comparative analysis of the most up-to-date data of global student mobility and a survey of international higher education professionals conducted in fall 2012.

 

Some of the key findings explored in the report include:

• Comparative patterns of international student mobility for 2013
• The rise of the new international student and the growing demand for undergraduate programs
• The appeal of business-related programs and Intensive English Programs at the undergraduate level
• A framework for responsive recruitment strategies for higher education institutions

 You may access the full report here: http://ow.ly/i2ylx.

The British Council’s Going Global 2013 conference on "Internationalizing Higher Education" was held in the Dubai World Trade Center last week, and was attended by more than 1,200 higher education policy-makers and experts from around the world. Here are some news highlights from the conference: 

Inside Higher Ed reports on a discussion on international branch campuses, where a panel of experts discussed a variety of challenges facing universities that set up branch campuses in other countries or engage in international partnerships. "But until asked during the question period, the panelists didn't say a word about the elephant in the room: differing commitments to academic freedom in the host countries for branch campuses and the Western democracies whose universities are setting up the branches," reporter Scott Jaschik writes. 

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is recruiting two U.S. higher education experts for a 10-14 day consultation (including travel) with a major scholarship program in Iraq. These experts will analyze the scholarship program’s administrative systems, including financial/accounting, data management, placement, and monitoring systems. Then they will recommend the next steps to improve the scholarship program’s technical systems, including options for software and hardware, staff training, and resource requirements.

  

The Embassy will provide secure accommodation and transportation in Baghdad, in addition to travel expenses, per diem, and an honorarium.

Applicants should be:

• Familiar with U.S. higher education operations, financial systems and data management, software and hardware systems currently used by U.S. universities;
• Able to recommend specific technical packages or companies that can provide services to the scholarship program;
• Willing to travel to Baghdad;
• Interested in helping the Iraqi higher education system increase its capacity and improve its processes!

For more information or to apply (as an individual or part of a team), please contact Lorna J. Middlebrough, Education Specialist for Iraq, U.S. Department of State. Email MiddlebroughLJ@state.gov or call 202.776.8728.

The Global Women in Leadership Conference will be the first SAIS conference on women and leadership, and the first-ever conference convening schools in SAIS’s joint-degree network, as well as in the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) network, which includes over 30 graduate schools nationwide. 

Through issue panels, leadership sessions, and networking opportunities, participants will engage with accomplished women in their fields, contribute to discussions about issues facing women globally, and gain perspectives on the skills and strategies necessary to navigate demanding work environments. 

For more information, visit the event page. 

Wheelock’s Global Challenges and Opportunities Facing Children, Youth and Families international conference offers:

• Keynote speakers who are changing the world, including Cherie Blair, Kerry Kennedy, Ögmundur Jónasson, Emiliana Vegas, Deogratias Niyizonkiza, Ebrahim Rasool, and Kevin Carroll.
• 150 internationally-recognized experts on 35+ panels on human rights, health, and education. 
• Spotlights on innovation and solutions in action around the world.
• Opportunities for networking and collaboration with global citizens.

Conference participants will discuss best practices for improving the lives of children and families. Visit the conference web page to learn more and to register.

New Orleans, Louisiana 

The IB Conference of the Americas represents the largest annual gathering of the global IB community, with over 1,500 attendees from over 30 countries. These attendees represent leaders from over 500 schools at every level. 

 

There will be over 100 breakout sessions offered during the four-day conference. Sessions may include presentations of best practices, conceptual models, professional applications, scholarly analyses, skill-building programs, and case studies. Please submit your proposal to present no later than March 15.  You can access the proposal form by visiting the presenter web page. 

 

18 July 2013, 7:00- 9:30 PM

Held during the opening reception for the conference, the college fair offers the opportunity to develop and enhance relationships with heads of IB World Schools, counselors, coordinators and educators from around the region. There is no charge for the college fair for registered participants at the conference. RSVP by June 15 to Meghan.Gannon@ibo.org. 

For more information about the conference or to register, visit the conference web page.  

Hilton Worldwide has long believed in the power of travel to bring people together and foster greater understanding between countries. This year, Hilton HHonors, the loyalty program for Hilton Worldwide’s 10 distinct hotel brands, is celebrating culture by giving once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to teachers through the Teacher Treks Travel Grant Competition.

Teacher Treks will provide 15 teachers with a $6,000 grant to travel internationally during the 2013 summer vacation. Applicants for the program may develop their own itineraries and choose their country/countries of travel. The top thirty finalists will receive a $2,500 donation to their schools. To be eligible for the program, each applicant must be a U.S. citizen with at least 3 years of full time teaching experience as of January 1, 2013. The program is open to teachers of grades K-12 only, and teachers of all subjects are welcome to apply.

Apply online at www.hiltonhhonors.com/teachertreks. For questions, please contact teachertreks@iie.org. 

The deadline to complete the survey for the upcoming Open Doors Report is Friday, March 15. The International Student Census Survey, which captures fall 2011 data on international students in the U.S., is part of the Institute of International Education’s 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.

Eligible host institutions are invited to apply to host a five-week Intensive English Language Workshop for Fulbright Libyan Scholars, to prepare them to effectively participate in a tailored 10-week program at a U.S. university for junior faculty. Fulbright programs are intended to promote grantees' academic and professional development, and serve the overall goal of the Fulbright Program: to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. 

The Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program for Libya is designed to bring approximately 40 junior Libyan faculty to the U.S. for five weeks of intensive English training at one institution to be selected, followed by 10 weeks of faculty development, mentoring, and cultural exchange activities at one of five previously selected U.S. institutions. The intent of the program is to equip grantees with the knowledge and tools needed to build the capacity of universities in Libya and to advance the education of future generations of Libyans. In addition, it lays the foundation for Libyan 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.  

The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), as part of its flagship Fulbright Program and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), a division of the Institute of International Education (IIE) in cooperation with ECA.

Send electronic submissions to Rachel Holskin at: rholskin@iie.org.

For complete information about the program and the proposal requirements, visit the website.  

"For the last 60 years, it has been a seesaw ride for higher education in Afghanistan," IIE Scholar Rescue Fund Executive Director Jim Miller writes on IIE’s Opening Minds blog. "However, the data proves that the news is not all bad. In fact, educational opportunities have increased, especially for girls and women." Miller says that international support is vital to help the higher education system in that nation survive and flourish. He includes a letter from a scholar from Afghanistan who is on the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) fellowship to demonstrate the growth that higher education in the country has experienced in recent years and the support that it needs to continue to grow. Read the post on Opening Minds.