Exchanges in the media
President Obama reiterated the importance of U.S. engagement with the world and the international affairs budget on Monday during a Google+ “Hangout” and broadcast live on Youtube, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition reported.
The New York Times reports that the Department of State has removed the Council for Educational Travel, USA (CETUSA) as a designated sponsor of the Summer Work Travel program. The article also provides some detail on the Department’s upcoming rulemaking for the SWT program:
Reacting to former Harvard University President Lawrence Summer’s assertion that “English’s emergence as the global language…make it less clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally worthwhile,” a variety of voices take to the New York Times to debate whether learning another language is necessary or useful.
Travel writer Rick Steves recently penned an op-ed in USA Today, sharing his belief that study abroad is not a “luxury” for American students, but rather a “necessity”:
International student enrollment in U.S. MBA programs has climbed back up to “pre-recession levels,” Bloomberg Businessweek reports:
“Average international enrollment at those [business] schools is now 33.4 per cent, up from 30.2 per cent at the height of the economic crisis, when visa and financing issues prevented many international applicants from enrolling.”
Efforts are being undertaken across the U.S. and abroad to increase exchanges between the U.S. and China, and prominent players, including U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, have voiced their support for President Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative.
With a rising number of branch campuses abroad, especially in China, U.S. colleges and universities are increasingly becoming interconnected worldwide but are also encountering new problems, according to a recent article by the Chronicle Review.
U.S. universities have seen a large increase in the number of applications from students in the UK, the BBC reports:
Students wanting to apply to U.S. universities can take the SAT common entrance test in the UK - and the College Board which runs the test reported a 30% increase in such UK candidates.
Salon.com reports that American students studying abroad, especially in tumultuous locations like Egypt, are being encouraged to “mix with the locals, but be careful:”
“A lot of students are trying to find places that will help them understand the emerging world,” said Peggy Blumenthal, who oversees research at the institute. They are preparing for careers in public health, the sciences and national security, for example, she said.
The European Union’s study abroad programs are set to be streamlined and will receive a major increase in funding, the New York Times reports:
