Foundation for Asia Pacific Education

I’m posting today about a foundation I’ve come to learn about and I really like what they are about so I am posting to IHEC Blog about the Foundation for Asia Pacific Education. Based out of Denver, Colorado, the Foundation for Asia Pacific Education is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to create global citizens and leaders by assisting students in achieving their personal and professional goals of obtaining cultural and academic experiences within the Asia Pacific region. The Foundation will support this mission by awarding scholarships to help enable students obtain an international experience in the Asia Pacific region. Students who are from underrepresented populations in international education are a priority.”

If you want and are able to make a donation to support the fine work of the Foundation creating future global citizens and leaders please visit here!

Speaking of donations…IHEC Blog readers in and around Westminster, Colorado will be interested in a 5k charity walk/run hosted by GlobalLinks Learning Abroad scheduled for next Wednesday, August 5th. What’s great about this 5k walk/run is that 100% of all donations go towards scholarships of the Foundation! You can learn more about this opportunity here.

You can keep up to date on the Foundation’s activities by subscribing to their quarterly newsletter and joining them on Facebook by visiting their home page and clicking on the relevant links (you can’t miss them). Additionally, you may also want to follow the Foundation on Twitter @FAPE here.

You can learn more about the Foundation for Asia Pacific Education here.

Some Notes on the International Education/Public Diplomacy Activities of the United States in the Immediate Years Following World War II

Recently I’ve been posting some of my old research notes to IHEC Blog that I think readers will find of interest. To continue that trend I’m posting today about the international education activities of the United States during the immediate years following World War II:

During World War II the Offices of the Secretary of State, Secretary of War and the Provost-Marshal General developed special intellectual diversion programs in the Allied prisoner-of-war camps to re-educate prisoners and provide English language training.[1] It is estimated that approximately 350,000 German prisoners-of-war participated in the re-education programs and they took what they learned in these programs and from their exposure to America back to Germany where many became teachers and some even returned to the United States while participating in future exchange programs. Upon Germany’s unconditional surrender in May of 1945, officials in the United States Office of Military Government began planning for the re-education of German citizens. In 1947 the United States Office of Military Government in collaboration with the United States Department of State initiated a new foreign policy program that would bring almost 10,000 German citizens to the United States to learn about democratic principles and the American way of life.[2]

One afternoon in late September, 1945 during a routine session of the U.S. Senate, the freshman Senator from Arkansas, J. William Fulbright, introduced legislation sponsoring exchange programs for students and faculty between the United States and foreign countries that was eventually signed into law by President Harry S. Truman on August 1, 1946. Senator Fulbright proposed to fund these exchanges through the sale of surplus United States property (primarily from the military) to allies and other countries at the conclusion of World War II. Senator Fulbright proposed a Bill to amend the Surplus Property Act of 1944 to designate the Department of State as the disposal agency for surplus property outside the United States, its territories and possessions, and for other purposes.[3] The first participants in the program from the United States received funding to study in the 38 countries that received money and/or equipment as a result of the Lend-Lease Act of 1941. Additionally, students from these 38 Lend-Lease countries received Fulbright Program funding to study in the United States. Fulbright stated that “it is…fair to say that the Exchange Program is an instrument of foreign policy, not just for the Untied States, [but] for all participating nations.”[4] The Fulbright Act of 1946 set in motion a great history of international education exchange between the United States and the rest of the world and a continuation of the United States use of soft power.

In 1948 the United States Congress passed The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act.[5] In addition to bringing the Voice of America[6] and other operations under the Office of International Information of the U.S. Department of State, The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act was established to promote better understanding of the United States among the peoples of the world and to strengthen cooperative international relations. The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act also expanded the Fulbright program to include countries other than those Lend-Lease countries originally specified in the original Fulbright Act of 1946 and facilitated the establishment of bi-national centers around the world to coordinate the exchanges between countries. Ultimately, the impact of The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act on U.S higher education was minimal; however, expanding the number of participating countries in the Fulbright Program beyond the Lend-Lease countries only two years later was an important development of the program.

This short historical piece is in many ways a continuation of a previous IHEC Blog post from last December entitled “First Public Diplomacy Effort of the United States?” You can read that blog post here.

[1] Cummins E. Speakman, Jr. International Exchange in Education, (New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education, Inc., 1966), 16-17.
[2] James F. Trent, A Brief History of the German-American Fulbright Program, 1952-2002 (German-American Fulbright Commission, date unknown), 1.
[3] Walter Johnson, and Francis J. Colligan, The Fulbright Program: A History. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967).
[4] J. William Fulbright, “The Most Significant and Important Activity I have been Privileged to Engage in During my Years in the Senate,” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 424 (1976): 2
[5] Also known as The Smith-Mundt Act.
[6] The Voice of America is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States.

ACT Locally - Attend an August Town Hall Meeting in Support for International Education

This IHEC Blog post is a copy and paste job (with permission) from an e-mail message I received from Kari Lantos, Manager of Grassroots Outreach at NAFSA: Association of International Educators, as I’m registered for NAFSA’s Advocacy Centered Team (ACT).

Mark your calendar and attend a town hall meeting during the summer district work period, August 4 - September 7! Throughout August, members of Congress will be in their home state to meet with constituents and learn more about local issues. This is your opportunity to meet your members of Congress at local events and discuss the significance of international education within your state and district that they represent.

While the idea of approaching your elected officials may seem daunting, it is quite simple (see 10 Strategies below) and extremely important in order to provide further information on the benefits of having international students in your community and sending local students to study abroad. An excellent example of a NAFSA member's participation in a town hall meeting is as follows:

In 2008, Dr. Susan Steen, Director of, International Education at the University of Southern Mississippi, attended a town hall meeting with Senator Roger Wicker. When she had the opportunity to speak to Senator Wicker, she asked a question about his level of support for international education, but more specifically, the Simon Study Abroad bill. She found that not only was he supportive of study abroad but his son was studying in China at that time and both of his daughters had had the opportunity to study abroad. After the town hall meeting, Susan contacted NAFSA to share her feedback from the event. Earlier this year, NAFSA was looking for a Republican Senator to serve as the lead cosponsor on the Simon Study Abroad bill and immediately thought of Senator Wicker. Susan contacted his office on behalf of NAFSA, and reminded his staff of the conversation from last summer. Susan provided information on study abroad statistics along with some anecdotal stories from the state and was able to get Senator Wicker to sign on as the lead Republican cosponsor of the bill. Had Susan not attended this town hall meeting, we would not have known Senator Wicker's level of support and commitment to getting the Simon Study Abroad Act enacted.

When meeting your legislators, you should share personal stories about your international and study abroad students and the life changing experiences they have had, relevant data (such as the Economic Impact Statements or Study Abroad Participation by State) and positive outcomes in your community as a result of having access to the world through student exchanges. Even better, take an international or study abroad student with you when you attend the event, giving the member of Congress a face to associate with the issue.

If you would like to receive notification of a town hall meeting in your district/state, please register for NAFSA’s Advocacy Centered Team (ACT) here.

Resource:
Prepare to attend a local event -- 10 Strategies for Using Congressional Town Hall Meetings to Advance your Legislative Agenda.
(Source: Knowlegis)

Best,
Kari Lantos
Manager, Grassroots Outreach
NAFSA: Association of International Educators

Sod photo credit: Dan4th

The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence

I’m posting today about a forthcoming book that I’mvery excited to purchase and read. The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence is edited by Darla K. Deardorff and will be available in October 2009. I know many of the authors and have worked closely with some on various committees and I have presented with Darla (the editor) at several conferences the past few years.

Following is the Table of Contents that I copied from the SAGE webpage for the book:

Foreword by Derek Bok

PART I. CONCEPTUALIZING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
1. Conceptualizing Intercultural Competence by Brian Spitzberg, Gabrielle Changnon
2. The Identity Factor in Intercultural Competence by Young Yun Kim
3. The Interculturally Competent Leader by Margaret D. Pusch
4. The Moral Circle in Intercultural Competence: Trust Across Cultures by Gert Jan Hofstede
5. Intercultural Conflict Competence as a Facet of Intercultural Competence Development: Multiple Conceptual Approaches by Stella Ting-Toomey
6. Cultivating Intercultural Competence: A Process Perspective by Janet M. Bennett
7. Developing Globally Competent Citizens: The Contrasting Cases of the United States and Vietnam by Mark A. Ashwill, Duong Thi Hoang Oanh
8. Understanding Africans' Conceptualizations of Intercultural Competence by Peter Ogom Nwosu
9. An Associative Approach to Intercultural Communication Competence in the Arab World by R.S. Zaharna
10. A Chinese Model of Intercultural Leadership Competence by Guo-Ming Chen, Ran An
11. Intercultural Competence in German Discourse by Alois Moismueller, Michael Schonhuth
12. India: A Cross-Cultural Overview of Intercultural Competence by Ranjini Manian, Shobha Naidu
13. Interculturality versus Intercultural Competence in Latin America by Adriana Medina-López-Portillo & John Sinnigen

14. Synthesizing Conceptualizations of Intercultural Competence: A Summary of Emerging Themes by Darla K. Deardorff

PART II. APPLYING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE15. Passing It On: Intercultural Competence in the Training Arena by Craig Storti
16. Leading Global Projects: Bridging the Cultural and Functional-Divide by Robert T. Moran, William E. Youngdahl, Sarah V. Moran
17. Developing the Intercultural Competence of Educators and Their Students: Creating the Blueprints by Kenneth Cushner, Jennifer Mahon
18. The Intercultural Speaker and the Pedagogy of Foreign Language Education by Michael Bryam

19. Cultural Mentoring: International Education Professionals and the Development of Intercultural Competence by R. Michael Paige, Matthew L. Goode
20. Culturally Competent Practice in Social Work by Rowena Fong
21. Global Competence for Engineers by John M. Grandin, Norbert Hedderich
22. Neither Jew nor Gentile: Lessons About Intercultural Competence in Religious Organizations by George Yancey

23. Developing Skills for Interculturally Competent Care by Rohini Anand, Indra Lahiri

PART III. ASSESSMENT AND RESEARCH IN INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
24. Methodological Issues in Researching Intercultural Competence by Fons J. R. van de Vijver, Kwok Leung
25. Applying Theory and Research: The Evolution of Intercultural Competence in U.S. Study Abroad by Michael Vande Berg, R. Michael Paige
26. Research Application: Towards a General Framework of Competence for Today's Global Village by Fons Trompenaars, Peter Wooliams
27. Assessing Intercultural Competence: Issues and Tools by Alvino E. Fantini
28. Implementing Intercultural Competence Assessment by Darla K. Deardorff
29. The Real Cost of Intercultural Competence: An Epilogue by Joseph E. Trimble, Paul B. Pedersen, Eduardo S. Rodela

You can purchase The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence here.

Last week I posted to IHEC Blog about a call for proposals for a new project entitled "Innovative Approaches to Training and Talking about Culture" that Darla is working on with her colleague Kate Berardo from Culturosity.com. Check out that post here.

The Interagency Working Group (IAWG) on U.S. Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training

During my recent research efforts on international education and public/citizen diplomacy efforts in the United States I came across a very interesting website for the Interagency Working Group (IAWG) on U.S. Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training.

The work of the IAWG is not new to me as I have found and perused a few of their annual reports and inventories of programs that I have randomly come across online in the past. However, while the IAWG website might not be new to some IHEC Blog readers it’s new to me and it is a discovery I’m very happy about as I imagine I will consult it frequently during the research for and writing of my dissertation (working title is Towards the Development of a Methodology to Measure Public Diplomacy Outcomes of International Education Programs).

Here is a very brief description of the IAWG copied from their website and a listing of what is currently available on their website:

“The Interagency Working Group (IAWG) on U.S. Government-Sponsored International Exchanges and Training was created in 1998 to make recommendations to the President for improving the coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness of United States Government-sponsored international exchanges and training.”

Available on the website:

- Annual Reports FY 1997 to 2008
- Country Field Studies for Georgia (May 2000), Morocco (May 2000), Thailand (May 2000), Poland (May 1999), South Africa (May 1999) and the Dominican Republic (April 1999)
- Inventories of Programs VY 1997 to 2007
- Regional Reports
- Special Reports
- Public-Private Partnerships which includes several case studies as well as extensive listing of non-governmental partner organizations with external links.

You can access the IAWG website 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.

Call for Proposals - Innovative Approaches to Training and Talking about Culture

Culturosity.com has put out a call for proposals looking for the “latest and greatest idea for working with culture” in the form of training activities and creative alternatives for culture concepts. The project editors, Kate Berardo and Darla Deardorff, hope to turn the finished product into a published book. The submission deadline is September 1, 2009. You can learn more about this interesting project and submission procedures here.

UPDATE: The submission deadline has now been extended to December 1, 2009!

While I thought IHEC Blog readers would be very interested in submitting something for publicaiton consideration I also think you will enjoy much of the Culturosity.com site in general and I encourage you to check it out when you have the time.