International Education Data During Past Democrat and Republican Administrations in the United States

Today, Inside Higher Ed posted an article entitled "U.S. Politics and International Education" by Bradley Feuling, chairman and CEO of the Asia Institute.  Feuling analyzed historical Open Doors data during several past presidential administrations for both U.S. students studying abroad as well as international students studying in the U.S.  

Long-term data provide clear evidence that a 

Republican-led administration will play a significant -- 

and perhaps somewhat surprising -- 

role in influencing foreign student enrollments and study abroad.

It is a very interesting read and I encourage you to not only read the article but also to comment on what you think the new Trump Administration holds for the field of international education.  You can access the "U.S. Politics and International Education" article here.

Secretary of State John Kerry touches on multiple topics including "Deepening People-to-People Ties" in his Cabinet Exit Memo to President Obama

Secretary Kerry's Cabinet Exit Memo available here

White House Executive Order -- Providing for the Appointment of Alumni of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, and the Critical Language Scholarship Program to the Competitive Service

Executive Order available at 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/29/executive-order-providing-appointment-alumni-fulbright-us-student

Changes to Iranian Student Visa Validity press statement by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Farsi subtitled version below



You can read Secretary Clinton's comments here.


More on this development via the following US Dept. of State media note: "Changes to Visa Validity for Iranian Student Applicants in F, J, and M visa categories"

The White House - Reaching Out to the Cuban People - January 14, 2011 Press Release

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

January 14, 2011

Reaching Out to the Cuban People

Today, President Obama has directed the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security to take a series of steps to continue efforts to reach out to the Cuban people in support of their desire to freely determine their country’s future.

The President has directed that changes be made to regulations and policies governing:  (1) purposeful travel; (2) non-family remittances; and (3) U.S. airports supporting licensed charter flights to and from Cuba.  These measures will increase people-to-people contact; support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people; and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities.

The President believes these actions, combined with the continuation of the embargo, are important steps in reaching the widely shared goal of a Cuba that respects the basic rights of all its citizens.  These steps build upon the President’s April 2009 actions to help reunite divided Cuban families; to facilitate greater telecommunications with the Cuban people; and to increase humanitarian flows to Cuba.

The directed changes described below will be enacted through modifications to existing Cuban Assets Control and Customs and Border Protection regulations and policies and will take effect upon publication of modified regulations in the Federal Register within 2 weeks.

Purposeful Travel.  To enhance contact with the Cuban people and support civil society through purposeful travel, including religious, cultural, and educational travel, the President has directed that regulations and policies governing purposeful travel be modified to:

·         Allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba under a general license.

·         Facilitate educational exchanges by:  allowing accredited institutions of higher education to sponsor travel to Cuba for course work for academic credit under a general license; allowing students to participate through academic institutions other than their own; and facilitating instructor support to include support from adjunct and part-time staff.

·         Restore specific licensing of educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program under the auspices of an organization that sponsors and organizes people-to-people programs.

·         Modify requirements for licensing academic exchanges to require that the proposed course of study be accepted for academic credit toward their undergraduate or graduate degree (rather than regulating the length of the academic exchange in Cuba).

·         Allow specifically licensed academic institutions to sponsor or cosponsor academic seminars, conferences, and workshops related to Cuba and allow faculty, staff, and students to attend.

·         Allow specific licensing to organize or conduct non-academic clinics and workshops in Cuba for the Cuban people.

·         Allow specific licensing for a greater scope of journalistic activities.

Remittances.  To help expand the economic independence of the Cuban people and to support a more vibrant Cuban civil society, the President has directed the regulations governing non-family remittances be modified to:

·         Restore a general license category for any U.S. person to send remittances (up to $500 per quarter) to non-family members in Cuba to support private economic activity, among other purposes, subject to the limitation that they cannot be provided to senior Cuban government officials or senior members of the Cuban Communist Party.

·         Create a general license for remittances to religious institutions in Cuba in support of religious activities.

No change will be made to the general license for family remittances.

U.S. Airports.  To better serve those who seek to visit family in Cuba and engage in other licensed purposeful travel, the President has directed that regulations governing the eligibility of U.S. airports to serve as points of embarkation and return for licensed flights to Cuba be modified to:

·         Allow all U.S. international airports to apply to provide services to licensed charters, provided such airports have adequate customs and immigration capabilities and a licensed travel service provider has expressed an interest in providing service to and from Cuba from that airport.

The modifications will not change the designation of airports in Cuba that are eligible to send or receive licensed charter flights to and from the United States.

The White House Copyright Policy

Tell President Obama that you are committed to citizen diplomacy!

If you believe in the value and power of citizen diplomacy then please take a moment to electronically sign a letter to President Obama.  The letter is available for you to sign on the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy website here.  


This is a great, easy and quick way to have your voice heard.  Additionally, if you support this effort (and I really hope you do) please forward the link to others you know and encourage them to take a few seconds to sign the letter!


Photo credit:  MShades

President Obama Calls for Doubling Student Exchange Programs with Indonesia

The following video snippet is of President Obama speaking at the University of Indonesia on November 9, 2010 calling for more collaboration between U.S. and Indonesian scientists as well as doubling student exchange programs with Indonesia [discussion on this issue begins at the 3:40 minute mark].





You can also read the text of a joint press conference between U.S. President Obama and Indonesian President Yudhoyono in Jakarta on November 9, 2010 via this White House press briefing.

President Obama’s Bold Plan to Send 100,000 U.S. Students to Study in China

I was reading the transcript of President Obama’s remarks at a town hall meeting held yesterday with Chinese students at the Museum of Science and Technology in Shanghai and was happy to see that he talked about educational exchange between the United States and China. This is not the first time that President Obama has met with students and talked about the importance of international exchanges and I hope it will not be the last time he talks about this issue. What caught my attention was the following statement by President Obama:

“..I'm pleased to announce that the United States will dramatically expand the number of our students who study in China to 100,000. And these exchanges mark a clear commitment to build ties among our people, as surely as you will help determine the destiny of the 21st century. And I'm absolutely confident that America has no better ambassadors to offer than our young people. For they, just like you, are filled with talent and energy and optimism about the history that is yet to be written.

So let this be the next step in the steady pursuit of cooperation that will serve our nations, and the world. And if there's one thing that we can take from today's dialogue, I hope that it is a commitment to continue this dialogue going forward.”

This is certainly a bold and interesting plan for the United States. I’m very interested in President Obama’s plans and I look forward to watching and posting to IHEC Blog about future developments in U.S.-China academic exchanges! You can read the entire transcript of President Obama's town hall meeting with Chinese students here.

Update: Video added November 18th ~ President Obama begins talking about sending 100.000 U.S. students to China at the 3:37 minute mark.




Given that it’s International Education Week and that President Obama continues to tout the importance of international exchanges between the United States and other countries with plans to send 100,000 U.S. students to study abroad in China it seems fitting for me to revisit my August 6th IHEC Blog post where I wrote “Dear President Obama – What’s Your International Policy?” which you can view here.

Dear President Obama, What's Your International Education Policy?

Dear President Obama,

I know that your time is precious and is primarily focused on the U.S. economy, our health care system and, perhaps most importantly, our engagement in two wars so I don’t want you to divert your time away from these important matters. When you do have a few spare moments it would be great to learn about your international education policy for the United States!

Towards the end of his Presidency, Bill Clinton issued a White House Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on April 19, 2000 with the subject: International Education Policy. The international education community here in the U.S. was excited to see their important work recognized by President Clinton in the form of an executive memorandum. To my knowledge, President Bush never issued a memorandum related to his international education policy during his two terms in office. We know you support and understand the importance of U.S. students and scholars studying/researching abroad as well as the importance of welcoming international students and scholars to our colleges and universities here in the U.S. It would be great if we could hear if you have an international education policy (and what that policy is) in a more formal manner!

Thank you in advance for your consideration,

David Comp
Hyde Park, Chicago

P.S. You can learn more about and download President Clinton’s executive memorandum on his international education policy here.

Confidence in Obama Lifts U.S. Image Around the World - New Report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project

Yesterday, the Pew Global Attitudes Project released a new report entitled Confidence in Obama Lifts U.S. Image Around the World and I thought I’d share with IHEC Blog readers in case this was off your radar. While the report does not seem to address any international education or public/diplomacy issues (based off its title and several key word searches of the document) it provides a very interesting snapshot of the current state of world affairs and demonstrates an opportunity for the United States to increase and establish new international education exchange/study abroad programs across the globe (including countries such as Cuba) as well as other citizen diplomacy efforts to continue to improve the U.S. image around the world. You can access more information and download this new report from the Pew Global Attitudes Project here.

You can also read a previous IHEC Blog post about a similar Pew Global Attitudes Project report here.

Urge Your Rep to Support H. RES. 569 in Support of Citizen Diplomacy

Yesterday I posted to IHEC Blog about H. Res. 569 and urged readers to contact your Representatives in Washington, D.C. to support and cosponsor this resolution. The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy has now made contacting your Representatives very easy to do via Change.org which you can do right here!

Please take one minute out of your day to send a letter!

Supporting the Work of Citizen Diplomacy Organizations and Encouraging the Convening of a Presidential Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy

Last Friday, June 19, 2009 Representative James Moran (D-VA8) introduced House Resolution 569 Supporting the work of citizen diplomacy organizations and encouraging the convening of a Presidential Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy.

This, of course, is huge in terms of gaining attention for citizen diplomacy, exchanges, study abroad, etc. as it comes at a time when the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act has just passed with the House Foreign Affairs Reauthorization Act.

H. Res. 569 currently has the following eight cosponsors: Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC9); Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY22); Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA1); Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5); Rep. David Loebsack (D-IA2); Rep. Thomas Latham (R-IA4); Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT3); and, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA3)

The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy just circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter throughout the U.S. House of Representatives to sign on and cosponser this Resolution. I urge all IHEC Blog readers to contact their Representatives and encourage them to cosponsor this Resolution. The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy is working on a letter that citizens and organizations can use to send to their respective Representatives and I will update IHEC Blog readers on this as soon as I receive word from The Center. I want to thank my colleague Derek Forsythe from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy for putting this on my radar last Thursday and to Google Alerts for providing me a link to the House Resolution itself.

You can learn more information on H. Res. 569 here on Govtrack.us.

I also want to encourage IHEC Blog readers to learn more about the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy and to take 30 seconds out of your day to sign the letter to President Barack Obama in support of this initiative. You can learn more about the Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy and sign the letter on The Center’s website right here!

You can read past IHEC Blog posts focusing on Citizen Diplomacy here.

NAFSA Statement: U.S. Policy Toward Cuba

NAFSA: Association of International Educators issued a statement this morning about President Obama's decision to reverse restrictions on family travel and remittances to Cuba what were imposed by the Bush administration. However, President Obama did not change policy on academic travel to Cuba and it is this part of the U.S. policy towards Cuba that NAFSA's statement is focused on. The following snippet is a cut and paste from part of the NAFSA statement that I want to highlight:

"We now urge the administration to move quickly to rescind the rest of the restrictions on communications with Cuba that were imposed by the Bush administration—restrictions on educational travel. At a minimum, the Obama administration should restore the situation to where it was before the Bush administration: Americans should be able to study in Cuba and participate in educational travel to the island, and Cuban scholars should be permitted to attend academic conferences in the United States."

You can read the full NAFSA statement here.

President Obama’s Remarks at Student Roundtable in Istanbul, Turkey

I was disappointed that I was not able to pay more attention to President Obama’s time in Turkey and, in particular, to the roundtable he had with Turkish students in Istanbul . Fortunately, I subscribed to RSS feeds from the Office of the Press Secretary of The White House where they posted the full transcript. To be sure, President Obama was not in Turkey to discuss international educational exchanges between our two countries nor did he explicitly discuss these during the roundtable. He did, however, allude to the history of exchanges between the United States and Turkey and the importance of such exchanges. Following are two quotes by President Obama that stood out to me and connect to international education:

"Turkey and the United States have a long history of partnership and cooperation. Exchanges between our two peoples go back over 150 years."

"Simple exchanges can break down walls between us, for when people come together and speak to one another and share a common experience, then their common humanity is revealed. We are reminded that we're joined together by our pursuit of a life that's productive and purposeful, and when that happens mistrust begins to fade and our smaller differences no longer overshadow the things that we share. And that's where progress begins."

You can read the full transcript of the roundtable here.

**UPDATE - Watch Video of President Obama's Talk**

The President Talks with Students in Turkey from White House on Vimeo.

Renewing America’s Global Leadership-A Policy Statement by NAFSA

NAFSA: Association of International Educators issued a policy statement today pledging support for President Obama and his administration in their efforts to restore America’s leadership around the world. Here is a snippet from the statement that I found particularly interesting:

“International education creates that most unique of possibilities, in which individuals of differing backgrounds, faiths, and life experiences can come face to face and discover ties of friendship and understanding. It is these person-to-person relationships that sustain diplomatic and political relationships, which is why generations of American foreign-policy leaders have pointed to educational exchanges as one of our most successful foreign policy tools, the most proven and effective way for the United States to build a foundation for dialogue and partnership with the rest of the world.”

You can access NAFSA’s entire statement (as well as a pdf version) here.

Obama’s Top Advisers – A Team of Expatriates

I came across a very interesting article from the January 26, 2009 issue of Newsweek on the importance of and value placed on the international experiences of many of President Obama’s top advisers. The international living experiences of retired Marine General James Jones (incoming national security adviser), Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury) retired Major General J. Scott Gration (potential NASA Administrator) and Valerie Jarrett (top Domestic Policy Adviser) and Barack Obama played an important role in shaping their view of the world and their understanding of and respect for different perspectives. Our diplomacy efforts extend well beyond the Department of State…

You can access the Newsweek article here.

To be an International Student in the U.S. on Inauguration Day

On November 4th my German host brother, from when I was an exchange student in Rosenheim, Germany some twenty years earlier, was visiting me and my family here in Hyde Park, Chicago and he was able to head down to Grant Park to take in the sights and sounds of the celebration for Barack Obama on the night he was elected the 44th President of the United States. He was able to witness the United States in a way he had never imagined he would and certainly different than he would have from watching on television back home in Germany. He felt it was a truly special moment and one that he was thankful he could witness in person.

Barak Obama’s inauguration as President of the United States provided international visitors a similar opportunity. I watched the inauguration on television like most people around the globe. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be in Washington, D.C. to witness that event. Of the millions of people who were fortunate enough to find themselves in Washington, D.C. yesterday many were from abroad and I imagine that many felt the same way about the inaugural celebration as my German host brother felt about the celebration at Grant Park on November 4th. Insidehighered.com published an interesting story today entitled “The Foreign (Student) Perspective on America’s Historic Day” that I think many readers will find of interest. You can access this article here.

Renewing American Diplomacy – The Agenda on Whitehouse.gov

While he has been President for less than five hours, Barack Obama and his administration have already transformed the White House website into well oiled machine (much like the website for his campaign). I was pleased to read the administrations positions on The Agenda and in particular his foreign policy. President Obama highlights the following six points in renewing American diplomacy:

- Renew our Alliances
- Talk to our Foes and Friends
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Expand our Diplomatic Presence
- Fight Global Poverty
- Seek New Partnerships in Asia

You can read more on President Obama’s ideas for renewing American diplomacy and his broader foreign policy agenda here.

A Little Pride On MLK Day

On this MLK holiday I feel that a little Pride (In the Name of Love) and City of Blinding Lights fom U2 at the Inauguration Concert yesterday is appropriate. You can watch U2's contribution here.

Some of you might also enjoy watching their rehersal from the night before. You can watch that footage here.

More Peace Corps

Today I’m posting twice on matters related to the Peace Corps. This second Peace Corps post is to bring attention to the More Peace Corps movement which is working to collect 25,000 signatures on a petition to support, actually remind, Barack Obama of his frequent pledge during the presidential campaign to double the number of Peace Corps volunteers. If you are in support of increasing the Peace Corps I encourage you to visit the More Peace Corps website to learn more about the movement and to sign the petition.

While navigating the website I came across a very interesting (and telling) statement from the January 13, 2009 article on the News & Events page entitled Two Hundred Peace Corps Volunteers to March in Inaugural Parade. The sentence follows:

“Representatives of the Peace Corps Community have applied for each Inaugural Parade in recent history and last participated in 1997.”

A clear statement of the Bush Administration position on citizen diplomacy on his very first day in office.