The Alliance’s sixth annual Advocacy Day was held on March 9, 2006. The Alliance held the event on its own this year following two years of jointly hosting the event with the Association for International Education Administrators (AIEA) in conjunction with their Washington conference.

I attended the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education, cosponsored by the Departments of State and Education on Jan 5-6. Approximately 125 presidents attended from all types of institutions. The high level participation from the executive branch was striking. In addition to President Bush’s January 5 appearance to announce the Strategic Language Initiative, participants included Secretaries Rice and Spellings, Under Secretary Hughes, Assistant Secretaries Harty and Powell, Under Secretary of Commerce Frank Lavin, and an unannounced appearance by the First Lady.

The Alliance this fall completed visits to consular posts in Eastern Europe to discuss visa processing. We visited the following posts: Kiev, Sofia, Bucharest, Skopje, and Istanbul.

The Alliance this fall completed visits to consular posts in Asia to discuss visa processing. We visited the following posts: China Education Association for International Exchange, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

The Senate last week passed its version of legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in FY 2006 at $31.86 billion, an increase of $1.29 billion over the President’s budget request, and $1.06 billion above the House approved version of the bill. The House passed its bill in May.

Meeting date: March 29, 2005
Place: American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS
Task Force chair: Elizabeth Chazottes, AIPT

Over 50 Alliance members convened on March 29 for the J Task Force meeting. Elizabeth Chazottes, Executive Director of the Association for International Practical Training and Alliance vice chair, serves as the task force chair. Susan Geary, DHS Student Exchange and Visitor Program (SEVP) Acting Director, and Stanley Colvin, Acting Director of the Office of Exchange Coordination and Designation at ECA, addressed the group in the afternoon. A summary of the meeting follows:

Witnesses at a joint hearing of the House Education Subcommittees on 21 st Century Competitiveness and Select Education yesterday reported on improvements in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), while noting that some changes still need to be addressed.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month approved the Foreign Affairs Authorization Act for FY 2006 and 2007, which includes authorization of the President’s budget request of $430.4 million for educational and cultural exchanges. The legislation, which was recently made public, also adopts some of the key visa provisions of the American Competitiveness Through International Openness Now (ACTION) Act legislation, recently introduced by Sens. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and aimed at reversing the decline of foreign students in the U.S.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month approved the Foreign Affairs Authorization Act for FY 2006 and 2007, which includes authorization of the President’s budget request of $430.4 million for educational and cultural exchanges. The legislation, which was recently made public, also adopts some of the key visa provisions of the American Competitiveness Through International Openness Now (ACTION) Act legislation, recently introduced by Sens. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and aimed at reversing the decline of foreign students in the U.S.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month approved the Foreign Affairs Authorization Act for FY 2006 and 2007, which includes authorization of the President’s budget request of $430.4 million for educational and cultural exchanges. The legislation, which was recently made public, also adopts some of the key visa provisions of the American Competitiveness Through International Openness Now (ACTION) Act legislation, recently introduced by Sens. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and aimed at reversing the decline of foreign students in the U.S.