More Resources U.S.-Russia Grants to Foster Research in Higher Ed

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today addressed students, faculty, business leaders and Russian government officials at the Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO) for a conference on international partnerships co-hosted by The Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at The University of Texas at Austin and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Secretary Spellings highlighted a newly inaugurated higher education research partnership between MGIMO and the Strauss Center and underscored the need for additional collaboration, innovation and exchange of ideas in today's globalized world.

Following are Secretary Spellings' prepared remarks:

Thank you, Jim Langdon, for that introduction. I'd also like to thank Rector Torkunov, as well as the MGIMO faculty and students, for your warm welcome. I'd like to recognize the many distinguished business and university leaders here today, especially from the University of Texas in my hometown of Austin, Texas.

It's great to be back in Russia. And I'm especially pleased to take part in this Conference, and what I hope will be the first of many fruitful dialogues.

For more than sixty years, MGIMO has served as the premier university for preparing Russia's leaders and diplomats. And now, one of America's leading diplomats and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Robert Strauss, is working to make the Strauss Center at the University of Texas a similar training ground.

The challenges we face in this new century – from terrorism to pandemic to climate change – are far more complex and global in scope for any one nation to solve. This partnership recognizes that future leaders must possess much more than a strong education foundation.

They must cultivate an open-minded, comprehensive worldview. They must learn from history, but not be hindered by it. And they must understand the value and absolute necessity of working with other nations to achieve our shared goals of peace and prosperity.

Fifty years ago, a single satellite helped launch a powerful movement to improve education. Sputnik ignited a fierce competition between our two countries over the frontiers of space and science.

Today, more than 2,000 satellites orbit the earth, communication crosses oceans with the click of a mouse, and technology shrinks distances more and more each day.

Where once we competed against each other, working together now represents our best course to prepare our citizens to succeed in a world where what you know means far more than where you live.

For this reason, the United States believes strongly in the value of international education and exchanges. When I was here in Russia in May of last year, Minister Fursenko and I signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote greater collaboration on education issues.

Building on that commitment, just this morning, we announced the first grants under a new U.S. – Russia program. These grants will support several partnerships between higher education institutions in both our countries. Areas of joint study will include language, energy, global health, and engineering – critical fields for the future of our nations.

For the past two years, the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of State have worked to promote similar types of higher education exchanges. We've led three delegations of U.S. university presidents to Asia, India, and Latin America. They represent the great diversity of American higher education from state universities such as the University of Florida to community colleges to premier research institutions such as Stanford University. On each trip, we met with higher education and government officials to find new ways to partner. We met with students to encourage them to consider international study, and we met with business leaders to discuss shared challenges in our work to better equip students with the skills they need.

As technology opens new doors of opportunity, it puts greater demands on our workforce and greater expectations on our education systems. In this fast changing economic landscape, education must keep pace. And by learning from each other, we have a much better shot at keeping up.

Education is not something that is done best in isolation. It's most effective when private sector, government, and educators work together. To that end, MGIMO has forged dozens of partnerships, several with American universities including one with Davidson College where my own daughter attends school.

This new partnership between MGIMO and the Strauss Center at the University of Texas is an extension of these efforts. But it's also unique in that it will be supported equally by both Russian and American business.

This joint investment demonstrates the growing need for highly skilled workers felt by companies worldwide. In America, five years from now, we will have three million more jobs that require a college degree, and we won't have the graduates to fill them.

I've met with many CEO's that express deep concern over their inability to find enough qualified workers to meet demand. With partnerships like this one there exists a mutual understanding that to get the workers they need the private sector must take a more active role.

In advancing education, the private sector can be a powerful ally. America has benefited tremendously from business community insight into how we can reform our education system. We've learned valuable lessons such as – how to align our goals with employer's needs, measure student progress towards those goals, and hold ourselves accountable for reaching them.

The business community was also instrumental in pointing out that our high schools were inadequately preparing our students for college and the workforce. Every single year, we spend a billion dollars on remedial classes for college students because they didn't get what they needed in high school.

To answer this need, President Bush has focused on increasing academic rigor in high school by strengthening math and science education. He created two new college grant programs to provide financial support for students who take challenging courses in high school and pursue math, science, and technology majors in college. And we've also worked with the business community to better align high school course work with college and business expectations.

In this century, a skilled, inventive workforce is as critical a resource as energy or technology. More than 3 billion workers have entered the job market in the past two decades. And the number of nations actively competing for a share of the global marketplace has gone from 25 to 66.

Talent is becoming one of the most sought after commodities and going forward our ability to compete will rest on the level of skill and education our citizens hold.

It's no secret that today's employers want creative problem solvers with strong math, science, and foreign language skills. Math and science are key to driving innovation and economic prosperity. And learning new languages encourages mutual understanding and advances the exchange of ideas. By collaborating in these areas and learning from each other we can help more of our students master these essential skills.

Our government is committed to ensuring that our education system provides students with the resources and instruction they need to be competitive. For us, the internationalization of education means sharing best practices, fostering innovation, and increasing transparency. No matter what country we call home, all of us share the same commitment to our student's success.

Through shared collaboration of ideas and invention, we can make our world and the world our children inherit one of great promise and opportunity. And as we pioneer new frontiers in health, energy, and space...let it be a race we run together and in doing so accomplish great things for both our nations and our citizens.

Thank you and I'd be happy to take any questions.

###

Top

Back to October 2007