First Lady Michelle Obama called young Americans “the best ambassadors that we have” in her remarks at the panda-naming ceremony at the National Zoo last week. The ceremony was part of the recent state visit of Chinese President Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan to Washington, D.C.
International student enrollment at U.S. graduate schools continues to rise, according to a recent report from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) discussed by PIE News. Enrollment of international students for fall 2014 increased by 11.2 per cent in comparison to the previous year.
President Obama and Chinese President Xi aim to have one million American students studying Mandarin by 2020, according to a joint announcement made during President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the U.S.
Explaining the importance of the new initiative, President Obama noted the role language plays in U.S.-China relations:
During his visit to Tacoma, Washington, earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping invited 100 American students from a local high school to study in China next year, The News Tribune reports.
An increasing number of American students are enrolling in foreign universities for their undergraduate degrees, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The U.S. government should double the number of participants in the Department of State’s Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program, according to a The Hill blog post by former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait Richard LeBaron.