EDUCATION | Driving tomorrow’s achievements
11 April 2008
A Personal Experience in International Relations
Exchange programs help young people broaden their view of the world
By Charlene Porter
Charlene Porter is managing editor of eJournal USA.
Enter the words "student exchange program" in an Internet search engine, and you'll get back as many as 2.8 million references. A young person eager to see another part of the world can find a range of opportunities to study, work, or volunteer.
The universe of international youth exchange is vast. It is hard to count all the organizations involved, let alone how many young people flow in and out of the programs each year. It's much easier to get a concise answer on why exchanges are worth doing:
Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations.
Those are the words of Senator J. William Fulbright, who might be called the father of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs, and his thoughts on the benefits of exchange are similar to the goals cited by many organizations.
The more than 60-year-old Fulbright scholarship program is named for the late senator from Arkansas because he sponsored a 1946 U.S. law that established the initiative. Since then, 138,000 foreign scholars, teachers, and students have come to the United States to seek a personal experience in international relations, and 82,000 Americans have traveled abroad with Fulbright awards.
The Fulbright program is considered the flagship program of U.S. government exchanges, but there are many others. With about 30,000 participants each year in exchanges sponsored by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), 1 million people have leapt into an international experience through these programs over the last 50 years.
These and other government-sponsored programs are only a few of the stars in the universe of exchanges. ECA offers one good place to begin a search for the program that's right for you, with a searchable database at http://exchanges.state.gov/jexchanges/. This search site will allow you to sort out the types of programs that look good to you, whether you're a secondary student, a university student, a teacher, or a researcher.
Colleges and universities are major destinations for young people on privately sponsored exchanges as well. Exchange students are diplomats of a sort in the academic world. The State Department issued 591,000 visas last year to student and exchange visitors to the United States. Some 200,000 U.S. college students went in the other direction and found opportunities at academic institutions outside of this country.
Pre-college age youngsters are also getting involved in study-abroad programs, but obtaining definitive, comprehensive numbers on participation levels is difficult. The Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET), an umbrella organization for groups involved in exchanges, estimates that roughly 30,000 secondary school students each year come to the United States.
CSIET also delivers a well-considered message on why these exchange programs are valuable to young people: "They learn first hand about other cultures, and create lifelong friendships in doing so; they begin to understand the connections between the world's peoples; and they realize the importance of understanding other languages and cultures."
Secondary school student exchange programs have been part of U.S. public diplomacy efforts since 1949. These programs promote mutual understanding by providing foreign students the opportunity to study in American high schools while living with an American host family. Not only are the students themselves transformed by these experiences, so, too, are their families, friends, and teachers back home. Host families, students, and sponsors whose lives intersect with these students benefit as well. (Further details on these programs and references appear in the section "Where Do I Go for Information.")
Learning a new language is an important element in building cultural understanding, and the United States has launched a new program to offer more of those opportunities to young people. The National Security Language Initiative (NSLI), announced by President George W. Bush in 2006, is one of the newest U.S. government exchange programs. The NSLI is investing in intensive training for young Americans in "critical- need" languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and the Indic languages.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the NSLI program during International Education Week in November 2006, saying: "Studying critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, and Farsi expands young people's opportunities, enriches their lives, and demonstrates our respect for other cultures."
NSLI's Intensive Summer Language Institutes are running for their second season for American students at both the secondary- and college-age levels. About 500 students are enrolled in intensive language-training programs at special institutes established in countries where these languages are spoken, according to ECA, while other American university students are studying language overseas under the Fulbright and Gilman Scholarship programs. Young teachers from other countries are also coming to the United States to help teach their native languages on U.S. campuses as Fulbright teaching assistants.
NSLI programs will continue to expand in the years ahead to include opportunities for secondary school students to spend a high school semester or year abroad studying language in Russia, China, Turkey, India, and Arabic-speaking nations.
Another category of exchange programs administered by ECA gives post-secondary-school students opportunities to participate in a work and travel program during their summer break from classes. Only available to students actively pursuing a degree at an accredited educational institution, the summer work program places young people in non-skilled service positions at resorts, hotels, restaurants, and amusement parks. Summer internships in businesses such as architecture, science research, media communications, and computer software and electronics are also allowed. Further information on this type of exchange is available at http://exchanges.state.gov/education/jexchanges/about.htm#background.
Volunteer programs may be the up-and-coming trend in exchanges, according to a recent study of the field by a Washington-based consulting firm. Rather than decide to spend a spring vacation at leisure on a beach or the ski slopes, some American college students are choosing to devote their break to international education or development activities in other countries. A wide variety of options are available to candidates seeking these opportunities through organizations such as the International Volunteer Programs Association [http://www.volunteerinternational.org/], Break Away [http://alternativebreaks.org/8components.asp], and Go Abroad [http://www.goabroad.com].
The U.S. Department of State assumes no responsibility for the content and availability of the resources from other agencies and organizations. All Internet links were active as of July 2007.
