In IIE’s 2013 Online Annual Report we invite you to meet the remarkable individuals we worked with in the past year, and learn more about IIE’s mission and vision. You can see stories and highlights about the impact of our signature programs, as well as those we administer for governments and private sector sponsors around the world.

The IIE/India team is pleased to announce the launch of a new program supported by The Verizon Foundation to accelerate STEM education access among young school girls in South of India. After four months of initial needs assessment, finalizing partner schools, and training 20 Science and Math teachers, the program is being officially kicked off. IIE/India Director Namrata Jha’s shares in her IIE Blog post about the Teachers’ Workshop held in Hyderabad in February. Verizon representatives traveled to Chennai and Hyderabad last week to visit schools and hold stakeholders meetings with U.S. consulate representatives, the CEO and senior management of Verizon, parents, teachers and selected students. We hope this pilot program will usher in larger investments in girls education programs in the future.

In his article in IIE’s newly released IIENetworker magazine, author George Kacenga writes about international education’s uncertain future in an increasingly integrated global marketplace. Kacenga characterizes Colorado as a frontier state with universities confronting reduced resources for higher education and rapidly changing measures for predicting recruitment, retention, and graduation of students. "International enrollment management is a moving target," writes Kacenga, who argues that internationalization strategies must be "apt to the context of the institution, its faculty and students, and the community that it seeks to serve."

International graduate-student trends "appear to have hit a reset," according to an article by Karin Fischer in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Fischer shares findings from a report released by the Council of Graduate Schools, which shows that, "for the second year in a row, applications to American graduate schools from India skyrocketed, while those from prospective Chinese students fell." She points out, however, that India’s growth has been erratic and highly susceptible to economic shifts.

More UK students are considering studying overseas this year than last, but there are still factors holding them back. The British Council’s Elizabeth Shepherd summarizes a report published last week looking at the perceived barriers and changing attitudes to international study. "Only five per cent of UK respondents and three per cent of U.S. respondents thought that an overseas study destination would give them access to a world-class education," writes Shepherd.

A new study by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) aims to explore the direct cost-benefit relationships of international students as they pertain to host institutions and host countries. According to a summary of the study posted in ICEF Monitor, it reveals that the "tuition, immigration, and taxation policies of the host country are huge factors affecting the economic benefits created by international students."

The government of Indonesia has launched the Indonesia Presidential Scholarships for students accepted at a top university abroad "in an effort to increase the number of people with postgraduate qualifications in Indonesia," reports Ria Nurdian in University World News. "Grantees will be obliged to return to Indonesia after completing studies abroad, with sanctions imposed on those who do not return."

Sri Lanka plans to allow 10 private universities from abroad to operate locally by 2020, reports the Indo-Asian News Service. The government’s aim to attract 50,000 foreign students and establish private universities in different parts of the country has already drawn a large number of foreign universities to seek permission to establish branches there.

Mauritius is striving to become Africa’s leading higher education hub, reports Karen MacGregor for University World News. "Mauritius is a democracy with political and social stability in a highly multi-cultural environment," writes MacGregor. "This, the government believes, makes Mauritius a natural bridge between African and European cultures, and between African and Eastern cultures." 

Teachers, students, education campaigners, and members of the public are invited to take part in Global Action Week (GAW) events happening all around the world. This annual awareness-raising campaign is organized by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), a civil society network that aims to end the global education crisis. This year, the campaign will focus on the theme of "Education and Disability" under the slogan "Equal Right, Equal Opportunity." This event will highlight the profound challenges faced by persons with disabilities in realizing their right to education.

If you are a teacher and your school is taking part, register here.

If you are a GCE National Coalition or Member, register to take part here.

For more information, please: 

• Visit the GAW’s website where you can find materials on the campaign, planned activities, etc.
• Contact the UNESCO Office and/or the GCE member organizations in your country and other EFA partners to ensure that actions are well-coordinated.

You can also visit UNESCO Global Action Week, which includes the following materials:

• A video message from the Director-General of UNESCO
• Key messages to facilitate your advocacy and media work
• Facts and Figures related to education and disability

Please send any queries you may have to gaw@unesco.org.

The theme of Canada’s International Education Conference (CBIE) 2014 is "The Diplomacy of Knowledge and Our Common Future." Knowledge diplomacy encompasses student mobility and collaborative research across borders and disciplines. It has elsewhere been suggested that knowledge should contribute to a country’s selection of foreign policy objectives, and that knowledge diplomacy offers the opportunity to work at all education levels on a range of fields to develop common approaches to shared global challenges. Participants will explore the meaning of the diplomacy of knowledge and its potential to impact our common future in a meaningful and timely way.

Tomorrow, May 1, 2014, is the cut-off date to join Generation Study Abroad in time for the next public announcement of partners. We encourage your institution to make a commitment now and be part of this important initiative. 

To date, more than 200 partners have joined and committed to take specific, measurable actions to expand study abroad opportunities for American students by the end of the decade. Partners so far include 180 campuses, as well as foreign governments and exchange agencies, education associations, and other educational organizations. We are deeply grateful to those who have already joined.

Already, our initial announcement of the launch of the campaign has generated a great deal of awareness about the importance of U.S. student mobility and study abroad. We are working with the commitment partners to publicize their participation, and many campuses have had great success in having their efforts featured in local and national news. Generation Study Abroad was also highlighted in CNN’s feature coverage of First Lady Michelle Obama’s trip to China where she spoke out about the value of cross-cultural learning.

The Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt was established in 1949, and is the oldest and largest Fulbright program in the Arab world. The Commission administers more than 15 distinct Fulbright programs, providing Fulbright awards to nearly 100 American or Egyptian scholars, students, and professionals each year.

The Executive Director will supervise a team-oriented staff of 23 professionals in planning, implementing and evaluating the Commission's Fulbright exchange programs, and lead the Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt in redefining itself to address the new reality in Egypt and the resulting new binational relationship. Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring that the Commission's activities are consistent with the policies of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, and compatible with the American and Egyptian academic environments.
• Meeting all programmatic and financial reporting requirements as set out by sponsoring partners and as required by the Commission's board of directors.
• Maintaining and enhancing the Commission's interactions with American and Egyptian academic institutions, government entities, corporate partners, and NGOs, ensuring nation-wide representation in Egypt.
• Managing the Commission's grants programs "one Fulbrighter at a time," so that each grantee is better prepared to pursue a Fulbright award and further mutual understanding.

The U.S. Fulbright Scholar program offers a wide variety of opportunities in a region that is rich with a myriad of cultures and traditions. The MENA Fulbright award offerings are diverse in discipline and activity, which allow scholars from virtually all focus areas to teach and conduct research at a number of prestigious universities, research institutes, and professional organizations. 

Fulbright scholars to the MENA region pursue their academic endeavors while building lasting relationships with colleagues and other nationals abroad; these relationships foster long term collaborations between individuals and institutions in the United States and countries in the region.

Explore core Fulbright U.S. Scholar opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa, by visiting the regional pages on our website.  

 

The Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Program for Education Leadership will hold its fourth annual workshop in Doha, Qatar from November 1 – 3, 2014 and is currently accepting applications. The goal of the WISE Program is to enhance leadership skills for new university presidents and emerging higher education leaders from developing countries. Applicants must fulfill all of the following criteria in order to apply:

• The applicant must be a Vice Chancellor, Rector, President or chief executive officer at the university. The applicant must not be a subordinate official. 
• The applicant must represent a higher education institution in a developing country
• The applicant must have assumed their current leadership position on or after January 1, 2013

The World Innovation Summit for Education was established by Qatar Foundation in 2009 under the patronage of its chairperson, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. WISE is an international, multisectoral initiative for creative thinking, debate, purposeful action and empowerment through education. Through ongoing programs and the annual Summit, WISE is a global platform for promoting collaboration and new approaches toward building the future of education. 

If you are a current university president, vice-chancellor, rector, or other chief executive officer, or you would like to nominate someone to participate in the 2014 WISE Program for Education Leadership, please download the application and send, together with the applicant’s bio and CV, to nup@wise.org.qa by June 13, 2014.

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is pleased to announce the summer 2014 awards offered. Eighty-four selection panelists from various colleges and universities across the nation met at the IIE office in Houston, Texas to review over 3,000 applications. More than 1,100 outstanding students were selected to receive the scholarship to attend study abroad programs and career-oriented internships for academic credit in countries all around the world. To view a list of selected Gilman Scholarship recipients, please visit www.iie.org/gilman. 

The Gilman International Scholarship Program is a congressionally funded program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE) through IIE’s office in Houston. The Gilman Scholarship Program offers U.S. undergraduate students of high financial need grants of up to $5,000 to participate in a study abroad program or international internships eligible for academic credit. Students studying a critical need language could be eligible to receive a grant of up to $8,000. The Gilman Program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study and intern abroad and the countries and regions where they go by supporting U.S. undergraduates who might otherwise not consider these unique and valuable opportunities due to financial constraints.