Live Webcast of First Lady Michelle Obama's "100,000 Strong" China Study Abroad Initiative

Watch a live webcast with First Lady Michelle Obama about her "100,000 Strong" China Study Abroad Initiative on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. EST on http://exchanges.state.gov/live-stream.html

International Education Books You May Want To Consider Adding To Your Library

Last night I was searching through my International Education Book Store  as I received word form Amazon that they may need to close my account if the Illinois State Legislature passes some law (I don't know the specifics).  I'll report on this here on IHEC Blog if this happens.  Anyway...


I thought I would simply post some book covers of recent international education books I think are of interest (you can click on the the individual book covers below to learn more about the book on Amazon)  The following books are just a sampling of the nearly 230 books currently available in my international education book store. 

Virtual Tour of the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial

Back in April 2010 I posted here on IHEC Blog about supporting the Martin Luther King, Jr. national memorial.  Since that time a virtual tour video has been produced and I thought I would embedded that video here on IHEC Blog today on MLK Day.  Back in November when I was in Washington, DC I was walking around the Mall with my colleague and we stumbled upon the MLK memorial construction site (I took this photo of the construction site sign ~ you can view the construction site webcam here).  My understanding is that the memorial will be dedicated in August 2011.  Once the memorial is open it will be on my itinerary the next time I find myself in Washington, DC. 

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

Which New Media Spaces do you Find Most Useful in Connecting with Fellow International Educators?

Rather than conduct another poll I thought I would simply ask the question "which new media space is your favorite for connecting with other international educators?" and see what, if any, comments are left down below.


For me, I find myself in numerous new media spaces and I find value in all of them.  I do tend to favor the following six spaces:


IHEC Blog at http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/


International Higher Education Consulting website at http://davidcomp.wordpress.com/


IHEC Blog's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IHECblog


LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcomp


Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidComp


IHEC Blog's YouTube Channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/IHECBlog


Of these six new media spaces, two are blogs and I would say that I find the most reward in posting to IHEC Blog and davidcomp.wordpress.  While I do receive comments on my various posts from time to time they are not as frequent as my interaction with others on Twitter and I truly appreciate the interaction I have with others in the field on a variety of topics.


What about you?


iCupCake credit: Whitney Reiser Johnson
Photo credit:  Jermay Johnson

International Education: Essential, Not a Frill - A Public Opinion Survey on the Importance of International Education

The results of a public opinion survey conducted by NAFSA, released yesderday, show that despite concerns about jobs and the state of the economy, Americans consider international education to be essential to the educational experience of today’s students. 

The highlights include:

73% of Americans believe that colleges must do a better job of teaching students about the world if they are to be prepared to compete in the global economy

·

Nearly two-thirds (65%) agree that without foreign-language skills, young people will be at a “competitive disadvantage in their career

The majority consider study abroad a “vital component of an education that prepares [students] for success in the global workplace” and believe international education is “very or moderately essential to the educational experience” of American students

You can read the full report at www.nafsa.org/OpinionSurvey. NAFSA is also running a grassroots campaign on www.ConnectingOurWorld.org where international education advocates in the United States are writing to President Obama and their members of Congress, reminding them that international education is a vital investment, and that the American public considers it a priority.  

Photo credit: 30Cal

Develop Your World: International Education Summit at Harper College in Illinois

In a few short weeks, on Friday, February 4, 2011, I will be facilitating a breakout discussion on Social Media Tools for the Community College at the Institute of International Education and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) best practices workshop in Houston, Texas entitled “Internationalization at the Community College”.  Just after I accepted the invitation to present at this workshop I was invited to facilitate a discussion on the very same date in Palatine, Illinois at the Harper College International Education Summit.  Since I can't be in two states at once I had to decline the Harper College invitation which is a shame as I would really love to attend.  

If you are from the Chicagoland area (an nearby) and can't attend the IIE/AACC best practices workshop in Houston you might want to consider attending the Develop Your World: International Education Summit at Harper College.  For their International Education Summit, Harper College is doing something really interesting and created a Blackboard "class" and a week prior to the event all registrants will be registered and with the goal of having a variety of virtual discussions leading up to the summit to get the dialogue going before everyone meets.  Stay tuned to http://dept.harpercollege.edu/international/events.html for more information!

Photo credit:  Dave Young