Study Abroad
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.”
The U.S. Department of State and the Iraqi government are increasing their efforts to enroll more Iraqi students in U.S. universities, USA Today recently reported. The cooperation between the U.S. and Iraq on issues of higher education and cultural exchange was also on the agenda for talks between President Obama and Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki last week.
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:
The Alliance recently released a video, “Highlights of a Cultural Exchange,” which details the positive experiences local American communities and international students have through the State Department’s Summer Work Travel (SWT) cultural exchange program. The full video is embedded below, and be sure to visit the Alliance's YouTube channel.
At an event last week hosted by NAFSA: Association of International Educators and Goucher College, honorary co-host Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and colleague Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) both underlined the importance of international education and study abroad for American students.
Two high school students from the greater Washington, DC area recently returned home "with a new sense of global citizenship and desire to strengthen their communities" after a three week stay in Japan through the Department of State's pilot "American Youth Leadership Program," facilitated by Cultural Vistas, the Washington Post reports.
