November 2009
The Department of State continued its use of new technology and media to connect young people around the world through virtual exchange:
- High school students in Boston and Jalalabad used Skype technology to meet online and discuss teen life, culture, and current events. (American students attending 14 San Diego schools also meet up regularly with Jalalabad students through Facebook.)
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved last week a measure that would make changes to foreign assistance programs, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), CQ.com and Foreign Policy.com both report. The approved bill would authorize $255 million over six years to establish a council within the executive branch to research and evaluate foreign assistance programs. The bill would establish, within USAID, an assistant administrator for policy and strategic planning and a bureau that would, according to CQ.com, “develop policy and long-term strategy, evaluate program effectiveness, and establish resource and workforce allocation criteria.”
Policy Monitor Weekly Digest, November 16-20, 2009
Darra Klein, Director of Exchange Visitor Programs at the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP), outlines at ILW.com the “vigorous push for increased restrictions and tightened scrutiny of J-1 exchange programs.” Namely, Klein discusses the proposed changes to Subpart A, the general regulations of the Exchange Visitor Program, and the forthcoming release of SEVIS II.
As a reminder, the public comment period on the proposed changes to Subpart A closes next Monday, November 23. Alliance members are encouraged to submit their organizational comments (to jexchanges@state.gov) as soon as possible.
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) published an op-ed Tuesday calling for the United States to lift its ban on American travel to Cuba. Addressing supporters of the travel ban, Lugar and Berman argued that “isolation from outside visitors only strengthens the Castro regime”:
“Travel ban defenders view sanctions as leverage over the Cuban government and their abolition as a concession. But over the last five decades, it has become clear that isolation will not induce the Castro regime to take steps toward political liberalization. Conditionality is not leverage in this case.”
The United States should expand its working holiday program beyond the small pilot exchanges with Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea that have “onerous application processes,” writes Ayden Fabien Férdeline, an Australian currently on working holiday in Canada, in the New York Times:
“Working Holiday programs were created to foster youth mobility, but they also encourage the exchange of cultural values. Participants serve as ambassadors for their home country and gain a greater appreciation for their host. And participants, like any tourists, contribute to the economy; Working Holiday travelers spend about $1.2 billion annually in Australia.
In its report on the economic benefits of international education released earlier this week, NAFSA illustrated that foreign students and their dependents continue to make a significant contribution to local and state economies, spending $17.6 billion in the United States during the 2008-2009 academic year.
EducationUSA recently launched a newly redesigned website for students interested in studying in the United States. New features include connections with social networking websites that allow students to find and share information about studying in the United States with friends and family. The website also will grant the U.S. higher education community private access to a wide array of resources including advising center profiles, country educational information, and international student recruitment opportunities.
President Obama’s commitment in Shanghai to “dramatically expand” the number of American students studying in China to 100,000 will take place over a period of four years, according to a U.S.-China Joint Statement issued in Beijing on Tuesday:
“The two countries noted the importance of people-to-people and cultural exchanges in fostering closer U.S.-China bilateral relations and therefore agreed in principle to establish a new bilateral mechanism to facilitate these exchanges. The two sides are pleased to note the continued increase in the number of students studying in each other’s country in recent years.
At a town hall meeting with future Chinese leaders in Shanghai today, President Obama announced his administration’s intention to “dramatically expand” the number of American students studying in China to 100,000:
“We know that more is to be gained when great powers cooperate than when they collide. That is a lesson that human beings have learned time and again, and that is the example of the history between our nations. And I believe strongly that cooperation must go beyond our government. It must be rooted in our people -- in the studies we share, the business that we do, the knowledge that we gain, and even in the sports that we play. And these bridges must be built by young men and women just like you and your counterparts in America.
