InsideHigherEd.com reports today that international applications to U.S. graduate schools rose 4 per cent between 2008 and 2009, “with the increase ‘driven almost entirely’ by growth at institutions with the largest numbers of international students enrolled already,” according to a new survey by the Council of Graduate Schools:

“Foreign applications rose 6 per cent at the top 100 destination institutions for international students, but dropped 4 per cent at institutions outside the top 100.”

InsideHigherEd.com reports today that international applications to U.S. graduate schools rose 4 per cent between 2008 and 2009, “with the increase ‘driven almost entirely’ by growth at institutions with the largest numbers of international students enrolled already,” according to a new survey by the Council of Graduate Schools:

“Foreign applications rose 6 per cent at the top 100 destination institutions for international students, but dropped 4 per cent at institutions outside the top 100.”

The Washington Post reports today on Alec Ross, a new senior advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whose job will blend technology with diplomacy:

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported this afternoon that Martha J. Kanter, chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, is President Obama’s pick to be under secretary of education. From the Chronicle article:

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports today that applications to overseas-study programs this summer and fall are down, and the economy may be to blame. One-third of respondents to a survey conducted by the University of Mary Washington and NAFSA indicated that they have experienced a decrease in fall study abroad applications:

"There has been a great deal of uncertainty about the effect of the global economic crisis on student enrollments in study abroad. On the one hand, belt tightening could cause students and their families to see overseas study as an unaffordable luxury and make students stick close to their campuses, international educators fear.

The SF Foreign Policy Examiner wrote yesterday on the arrival of online diplomacy:

"The State Department has its own social networking site, similar to Facebook. It's called ExchangesConnect and it is administered by the department's Bureau of Educational Cultural Affairs...it includes blog postings, photos, and videos from users across the world who discuss culture, language and global education programs. It's been running since December 2008. The State Department also has a blog, DipNote, where top-level officials discuss policies."

Two recent articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education examine issues surrounding foreign scholars and students in the United States.

Bloomberg.com reports today that Ohio State University president E. Gordon Gee wants to more than double the number of undergraduates from outside the United State and require every member of the student body to have a passport:

“I want them to see the world not through the eyes of the 88 counties of Ohio but through the eyes of the world in which they’re going [to] live,” said Gee.

The New York Times Bits Blog posted yesterday on the challenges the federal government faces in its attempts to utilize social networking and various Web 2.0 technology for the purposes of public diplomacy, and other functions. One of the many challenges includes the use of Facebook and tracking "unauthorized" fan pages:

With university campuses simultaneously going green and going international, is "sustainable study abroad" a reality? An article today on InsideHigherEd.com examines recent efforts to promote and create environmental sustainability in study abroad.

Related to this story, a social networking site called the Green Passport Program aims to “motivate, engage, and support study abroad administrators and students interested in adding a more socially and environmentally conscious dimension to their education abroad experiences."