Press Room
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ursula Oaks, 202.737.3699 x2553
For Release: Nov 14, 2006
Study Abroad Legislation Gains Support
Bill proposes visionary program to ensure that Americans are internationally educated
WASHINGTON, November 14, 2006 - A bold piece of legislation that would dramatically increase the number of American students who graduate with cross-cultural knowledge and foreign-language competence has garnered 35 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate and is poised to gain traction early in the new Congress in January.
The vision of the bipartisan Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Act (S. 3744) – introduced in July by Senators Richard Durbin (D – Ill.) and Norm Coleman (R – Minn.) – is that in ten years’ time, one million U.S. college students will be studying abroad each year, and that study abroad opportunities will become more diverse in terms of participants, fields of study, and destinations, especially in the developing world.
“One of the best ways to prepare our citizens with foreign-language competence and cross-cultural knowledge is through study abroad,” said NAFSA Executive DirectorNAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education.
and CEO Marlene Johnson. “As such, it must be an integral part of a complete college education and the centerpiece of a national effort to ensure that the next generation of Americans is ready for life and leadership in the 21st century.”
According to the latest data, just over 200,000 Americans studied abroad during the 2004-2005 academic year, representing only one percent of U.S. college undergraduates, despite opinion polls that indicate that more than three-quarters of Americans believe it is important to do so. Open Doors 2006 reports increasing interest on the part of American students in non-traditional destinations. Still, just 3.5% of Americans who studied abroad last year did so in Africa, and 1% studied in the Middle East, while over 60 percent continue to study in Europe. In order to meet today’s global challenges, a national study abroad program that dramatically increases the number of American students who study abroad worldwide is urgently needed.
In addition to proposing a pool of direct scholarships, the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Program recognizes that the biggest obstacles to study abroad are not purely financial ones, and that it is often on-campus factors – those related to curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, and programming – that make the biggest difference The legislation leverages change in those areas by making a commitment to institutional reform a prerequisite that schools must meet in order to access federal funds.
NAFSA places its full support behind this important and innovative proposal and urges Congress to pass and fully fund the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Program next year.
The vision of the bipartisan Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Act (S. 3744) – introduced in July by Senators Richard Durbin (D – Ill.) and Norm Coleman (R – Minn.) – is that in ten years’ time, one million U.S. college students will be studying abroad each year, and that study abroad opportunities will become more diverse in terms of participants, fields of study, and destinations, especially in the developing world.
“One of the best ways to prepare our citizens with foreign-language competence and cross-cultural knowledge is through study abroad,” said NAFSA Executive DirectorNAFSA: Association of International Educators is the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education.
and CEO Marlene Johnson. “As such, it must be an integral part of a complete college education and the centerpiece of a national effort to ensure that the next generation of Americans is ready for life and leadership in the 21st century.”
According to the latest data, just over 200,000 Americans studied abroad during the 2004-2005 academic year, representing only one percent of U.S. college undergraduates, despite opinion polls that indicate that more than three-quarters of Americans believe it is important to do so. Open Doors 2006 reports increasing interest on the part of American students in non-traditional destinations. Still, just 3.5% of Americans who studied abroad last year did so in Africa, and 1% studied in the Middle East, while over 60 percent continue to study in Europe. In order to meet today’s global challenges, a national study abroad program that dramatically increases the number of American students who study abroad worldwide is urgently needed.
In addition to proposing a pool of direct scholarships, the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Program recognizes that the biggest obstacles to study abroad are not purely financial ones, and that it is often on-campus factors – those related to curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, and programming – that make the biggest difference The legislation leverages change in those areas by making a commitment to institutional reform a prerequisite that schools must meet in order to access federal funds.
NAFSA places its full support behind this important and innovative proposal and urges Congress to pass and fully fund the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Program next year.
