Simon Study Abroad Act Included in Foreign Relations Authorization Bill Introduced Today

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2009 – The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act is included in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act (fiscal years 2010 and 2011) introduced today by U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D – Calif.). While the authorization bill’s primary purpose is to authorize funding for the operations of the U.S. Department of State, it also includes innovative programs like the Simon legislation that are critical to accomplishing U.S. foreign policy and public diplomacy goals.

“We applaud Chairman Berman for his strong support of the Simon bill and for including it in this important package,” said NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Marlene Johnson. “By ensuring that the critical experience of study abroad is an integral part of the 21st-century education of our college students, this unique and innovative program would revolutionize America’s capacity to understand, relate to, and lead responsibly in the world. We are encouraged by the support expressed for the Simon bill by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton when they were in the Senate.”

The vision of the Simon bill is to expand four-fold the number of American undergraduates who study abroad in quality programs across the globe, recognizing the urgent need to prepare the next generation of college graduates with critical language skills, cross-cultural competencies, and international knowledge. To accomplish this mandate, the legislation would create an independent entity to administer the program, focusing particular attention on ensuring access to study abroad across the college demographic and encouraging study abroad in the developing world. In addition to providing a pool of direct scholarships, the program would use a unique approach to leverage private-sector support for study abroad, and would encourage higher education institutions to address the on-campus factors that most heavily impact study abroad participation – curriculum, faculty involvement, institutional leadership, and programming – by making an institutional commitment to advancing study abroad a prerequisite for access to federal funds. Today, only about one percent of U.S. undergraduates study abroad, despite surveys 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.

The Simon bill has garnered 32 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate, where it was introduced in February by Senators Dick Durbin (D – Ill.) and Roger Wicker (R- Miss.). Last year, the bill passed the House with unanimous support and enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the Senate, where it was one step short of passage when the legislative clock expired last fall.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to take up the authorization bill on May 20.