Franz Strasser, a digital reporter for BBC World News America and originally from Germany, files a video report about his return to Mayo, Florida, where he spent the 2001-02 school year as a high school exchange student living with the Gresham family. For the Greshams, hosting an exchange student was not only about broadening their horizons, but also about adding another member to their family.

In today’s Chronicle of Higher Education, Wendy Williamson, director of study abroad at Eastern Illinois University, tackles the question of why as few as 1.5 per cent of college students travel overseas to study every year. She cites a 2008 report by the American Council on Education and the College Board to find a reply:

“If you speak to a man in a language he understands, you speak to his head,” Nelson Mandela once said. “If you speak to him in his own language, you speak to his heart.”

Mobility International USA produced a ten-minute video (below) highlighting the success of high school students with disabilities who are participating in international exchange via the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program. The video includes interviews with several YES participants, as well as their American host families, teachers, and classmates, who all note what a positive experience hosting exchange students in their homes and communities has been.

Rather than acting as a distraction or undermining educational outcomes, study abroad experiences result in improved academic performance, InsideHigherEd.com reports in an analysis of the results of a ten-year University System of Georgia study.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released last week an “InfoBrief” detailing the number of foreign science and engineering (S&E) students enrolled at U.S. universities:

A “comprehensive partnership” between Indonesia and the United States—to deepen relations and increase educational exchanges, including expanding the Fulbright program in Indonesia—is “steaming ahead,” reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The enrollment of first-time foreign students at U.S. colleges rose in the most recent academic year despite the declining global economy, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports:

The House Agriculture Committee last week passed the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, a bill that would end a ban on travel to Cuba and ease restrictions on agricultural exports to the island, CQ.com reports: “The bill (HR 4645), approved 25-20 by the Agriculture Committee on June 30, would prohibit the president from regulating travel to Cuba.…’This legislation is the right policy at the right time,’ said Agriculture Chairman Collin C.

The U.S. and World Education Act (HR 3359), introduced in July 2009 by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), picked up its 214th co-sponsor last week. The bill was referred to Education and Labor Committee when it was first introduced last summer, though no indication has been given as to if and when the bill may pass.