IIE’s U.S. Higher Education Fairs provide accredited U.S. colleges and universities an opportunity to meet with thousands of students interested in studying in the United States. The IIE Fair series also helps to build your institution’s name internationally, access thousands of prospective students, and connect with local schools and university officials.

• Vietnam: February 18-20, 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi
• Latin America STEM fairs: February 27-March 14, 2014 in Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Chile

"Closed following student unrest in 1988, Yangon University is accepting undergraduates again in a sign of change," reports Hereward Holland in a recent article in Aljazeera.com. "Half a century and a name-change later, the leafy avenues of Yangon University are crawling with the first crop of undergraduates to study a curriculum free from the interfering hand of the military."

A recent article in the Diplomatic Courier argues that "we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the way by which talent is sourced, trained, utilized, groomed, nurtured, and retained." The article describes key catalysts of this change, including "the globalization of markets across developed and emerging economies and demographic shifts... [and] skilled talent availability in fast growing economies (such as China and India)."

According to The PIE News, "the Canadian government has announced its International Education Strategy (IES) that will focus on key markets in order to double foreign student numbers, boost job growth and inject billions of dollars into the economy by 2022." 

Key highlights include: 

• Enhanced international marketing activities to double the number of international students at all levels coming to Canada by 2022 (to more than 450,000);
• Focus on priority markets, which include Brazil, India, China, Vietnam, the Middle East and North Africa (including Turkey) and Mexico;
• A comprehensive framework for international education, inclusive of study abroad for Canadian students.

An article in The Hindu last week reported that "Indian Institutes of Technology [recently] decided to step up inter-disciplinary research collaborations tailored to meet the national development agenda and open the premier engineering institutions to more foreign students at the post-graduate and research levels," which was agreed at a retreat of IIT Directors, hosted by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.

A recent article in the University Word News reports on a survey commissioned by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). "International students appear to have significant positive impacts on host institutions and countries as well as on host economies," according to the article. The survey demonstrates that "student mobility has significant impacts on the economy both in terms of consumer spending and with regard to graduates working in host countries later on."

Inside Higher Ed reported on John Kerry’s announcement last week that the State Department in conjunction with the private sector "had raised an initial $3.65 million in support of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative, which aims to dramatically increase two-way student exchange between the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean by 2020." The article lists the first four institutions to receive grants through the fund.

You are invited to participate in the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA)’s 2014 Annual Conference. Nearly 1,000 university leaders from over 600 universities in more than 35 countries will be in attendance. The conference features nine outstanding pre-conference workshops on key leadership issues and over 100 provocative, relevant, and rewarding sessions and roundtable discussions focused on the theme: Universalizing Global Learning in the 21st Century Academy. Keynote speakers include international education scholar Philip Altbach, philosopher Anthony Appiah, author Azar Nafisi, and psychologist Derald Wing Sue.

Please join us for the Annual IIE Best Practices in International Education Conference on March 14, 2014, in New York City. This event will cover many exciting keynote, plenary, and session themes, and will feature high-level experts, including presidents, provosts, and international education administrators from institutions around the world. In addition, a special awards portion of the conference will honor the winners of the 2014 IIE Andrew Heiskell Awards for Innovation in International Education. We also invite you to attend the optional pre-conference roundtable discussions and the networking dinner on March 13.

Thank you to the organizations that already agreed to sponsor the IIE Best Practices Conference:

• American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS) 
• ELS Language Centers
• Embassy of France
• ETS: Educational Testing Service
• Taipei Economic & Cultural Office
• Terra Dotta

We invite others to be a sponsor of IIE's Best Practices Conference. Sponsorship is available at various levels. Please indicate your request or willingness to sponsor this event by January 31 by emailing strocheva@iie.org. See our list of sponsorship benefits. We look forward to the opportunity to promote your international programs or activities to our participants, and would be delighted to have your support.

The "One Globe: Uniting Knowledge Communities" conference is an annual conference focused on what it takes to build a 21st century knowledge economy in India and South Asia. The topics covered focus on the linkages between economic development and the following themes with educating being the core focus:

• Higher Educations
• K-12
• Skills Development (Skills needed to be successful in the 21st century)
• Technology
• Innovation
• Smart cities/Physical Infrastructure for creating knowledge cities and hubs

Topics are divided into an interesting fast-paced format that includes keynote speeches, panel discussions, "fireside" chats and Spot Light sessions that will allow meaningful and interesting dialogue from both the speaker and the audience perspective.

DAAD invites representatives from universities, research institutions, and funding agencies in the United States and Canada, as well as colleagues from the fields of education policy and politics to join the "Germany Today" Information Tour 2014.

The tour will focus on Applied Science in Germany—where it takes place, who co-operates with whom, where the money comes from, how students and graduates are involved, and what the interface with industry looks like. It will focus on universities of applied science, but also look at research institutions and research universities where applied research is conducted, and learn about aspects of internationalization in this area as well.

Information provided during this week will include:

• Introduction to Germany’s (applied) research landscape
• Details about certain areas of applied research and funding mechanisms
• Details about the consortium of seven major, research-intensive universities of applied science (UAS 7)
• Institutional internationalization strategies
• Details about select BA and MA programs at recognized universities of applied science
• Accreditation of courses taken abroad in BA/MA programs
• PhD programs/training, especially in relation to applied science, and transatlantic mobility

North American participants in this program are typically senior administrators at leading universities in the U.S. and Canada (such as vice presidents for international affairs or heads of international offices), policy makers in federal and state/provincial governments or associations, and other experts in the higher education field.

Intercontinental travel is at the participant’s expense. Applicants must have U.S./Canadian citizenship or permanent residency, a special interest in Germany and transatlantic co-operation, and a relevant professional position. Applicants should not have recently participated in another information trip to Germany.

The Japan-IMF Scholarship Program for Advanced Studies (JISP) is a two-year program intended to provide assistance to Japanese nationals obtaining Ph.D. degrees in macroeconomics at universities outside of Japan and to prepare them to work as economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The scholarship is funded by the government of Japan and administered by the IMF Institute with assistance from the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Awards are available to candidates able to obtain a Ph.D. by age 34 and who will be entering the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd year of their Ph.D. program.

Up to seven scholarships are awarded annually on a competitive basis to students with a record of high academic achievement. All JISP scholars are required to apply to the IMF’s Economist Program (EP) upon completion of their doctoral studies and to accept an EP position if offered.

The Daily Wildcat announced last week that the University of Arizona is a new participant of IIE’s International Academic Partnership Program for Brazil. According to Daniel Obst, deputy vice president at IIE for International Partnerships, the program contains a number of core components including "the development of a task force by the UA for a strategic planning process, a study tour to Brazil in the spring, and the appointment of a mentor to advise the UA through the process."

 

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational, and Cultural Affair’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is pleased to announce that the online application is now open for students participating in study abroad programs and internships during the summer 2014 or fall/academic year 2014-2015 terms. The Gilman Program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study and intern abroad and the countries and regions where they go. All eligible applicants are encouraged to apply. For more information about the Gilman Scholarship, webinar schedules, and other helpful resources, please visit the Gilman website.

Students applying for any academic term must meet the eligibility requirements below:

• Enrolled as an undergraduate student at an accredited two- or four-year U.S. institution
• Receiving a Federal Pell Grant at the time of application or during the term abroad
• Be a United States citizen
• Participating in a study abroad program or internship that is no less than four weeks (28 days) in one country and no more than an academic year
• Applying to or accepted into a study abroad program or internship eligible for academic credit by the student's home institution
• Studying or interning in any country not currently under a U.S. State Department Travel Warning or Cuba

The Gilman International Scholarship Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Since the program’s inception in 2001, the Gilman Program has awarded over 15,000 U.S. undergraduates of high financial need to study and intern abroad in over 130 countries from more than 1,100 institutions.

IIE- Scholar Rescue Fund alumnus Dmitri O. Lapotko was featured in the New York Times for his groundbreaking work in developing a new test that could revolutionize malaria diagnosis. The new bloodless malaria test uses laser pulses to detect the disease at an early stage. According to Lapotko, the device has the potential to screen one person every 20 seconds for less than 50 cents each and would be rugged enough to work in dusty villages. Clinical trials will begin in a few weeks. Lapotko, who studied laser weapons in his native Belarus, was granted an IIE-SRF award in 2007 and began his fellowship in the Biochemistry and Cell Biology Departments at Rice University. He remains a faculty fellow at Rice, where he is part of a team of researchers.