Press Room
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ursula Oaks, 202.737.3699 x2553
For Release: Mar 12, 2007
One Million Students Studying Abroad: Visionary Bill Seeks to Prepare Globally Educated Americans
WASHINGTON, March 12, 2007 – The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007 (H.R.1469), introduced today by Representatives Tom Lantos (D – Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R – Fla.), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, proposes the creation of an innovative public-private partnership to dramatically increase the number of American college students who study abroad. It specifically cites the foreign policy challenges facing the United States as a central reason for the need to expand Americans’ knowledge of other cultures and foreign languages, and it focuses particular attention on encouraging more students to study abroad in nontraditional destinations, especially in the developing world.
The bipartisan legislation was inspired by and takes its name from the late Senator Paul Simon (D - Ill.), who urged Congress to take action in an area he believed was crucial to the future of the United States: to ensure that the next generation of Americans is prepared with global knowledge and skills. Senator Simon’s efforts led to the creation of a bipartisan federal commission; its report recommended a national effort to dramatically increase study abroad by Americans. Legislation introduced in 2006 by Senators Richard Durbin (D – Ill.) and Norm Coleman (R – Minn.) called for the creation of such a program.
The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act would create an independent entity to administer a national study abroad program, taking a unique approach that would give the program the flexibility necessary to accomplish its ambitious mandate: that at least one million U.S. undergraduate students will study abroad annually in ten years’ time, and that study abroad opportunities will become more diverse in terms of participants, fields of study, and destinations, especially in the developing world. In addition to providing a pool of direct scholarships, the program would encourage higher education institutions to address the on-campus factors that most heavily impact study abroad participation – curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, programming – by making a commitment to institutional reform a prerequisite for access to federal funds. “It is the emphasis on leveraging institutional reform that will make it possible for this program to revolutionize study abroad in the United States – to make it an integral part of the 21st-century education of American college students,” said NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Marlene Johnson. Today, only about one percent of U.S. college undergraduates have studied abroad, despite opinion polls that indicate that more than three-quarters of Americans believe it is important to do so and a rising chorus of business, education, and government leaders concerned about Americans’ lack of preparedness in engaging and communicating with the world.
“NAFSA strongly supports this historic effort to bring government, higher education, and the private sector together to ensure that the next generation of Americans is ready for life and leadership in the global age. We urge Congress to pass and fully fund the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act,” said Johnson.
The bipartisan legislation was inspired by and takes its name from the late Senator Paul Simon (D - Ill.), who urged Congress to take action in an area he believed was crucial to the future of the United States: to ensure that the next generation of Americans is prepared with global knowledge and skills. Senator Simon’s efforts led to the creation of a bipartisan federal commission; its report recommended a national effort to dramatically increase study abroad by Americans. Legislation introduced in 2006 by Senators Richard Durbin (D – Ill.) and Norm Coleman (R – Minn.) called for the creation of such a program.
The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act would create an independent entity to administer a national study abroad program, taking a unique approach that would give the program the flexibility necessary to accomplish its ambitious mandate: that at least one million U.S. undergraduate students will study abroad annually in ten years’ time, and that study abroad opportunities will become more diverse in terms of participants, fields of study, and destinations, especially in the developing world. In addition to providing a pool of direct scholarships, the program would encourage higher education institutions to address the on-campus factors that most heavily impact study abroad participation – curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, programming – by making a commitment to institutional reform a prerequisite for access to federal funds. “It is the emphasis on leveraging institutional reform that will make it possible for this program to revolutionize study abroad in the United States – to make it an integral part of the 21st-century education of American college students,” said NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Marlene Johnson. Today, only about one percent of U.S. college undergraduates have studied abroad, despite opinion polls that indicate that more than three-quarters of Americans believe it is important to do so and a rising chorus of business, education, and government leaders concerned about Americans’ lack of preparedness in engaging and communicating with the world.
“NAFSA strongly supports this historic effort to bring government, higher education, and the private sector together to ensure that the next generation of Americans is ready for life and leadership in the global age. We urge Congress to pass and fully fund the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act,” said Johnson.
