Press Room
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ursula Oaks, 202.737.3699 x2553
For Release: Nov 18, 2003
Too many Americans Lack Crucial Global Skills in Post-September 11 World, Report Warns
Blue-ribbon panel urges dramatic expansion of study abroad participation
In a report released today by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a task force of national leaders in international education warns that Americans' lack of knowledge of the world represents a “national liability" in the war on terrorism. Securing America’s Future: Global Education for a Global Age sets out concrete recommendations to federal and state governments, higher education institutions, and the private sector for addressing the problem, focusing specifically on the need to dramatically increase the participation of U.S. college students in study abroad opportunities.
Former U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley and former Illinois Senator Paul Simon are the honorary co-chairs of the Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad. The report includes and endorses a proposal by Senator Simon to establish a national study abroad scholarship program, supported by federal funding, that would greatly increase the amount of financial aid available to U.S. college students studying abroad.
At a time of serious foreign policy challenges and increasing globalization in all areas of life, the task force notes, there is an urgent need for more Americans with international skills and knowledge. To meet this need, more U.S. students must “devote a substantive portion of their education to gaining an understanding of other countries, regions, languages, and cultures, through direct personal experience.”
Securing America’s Future proposes a national effort to address the major obstacles to study abroad and to expand and diversify study abroad participants, fields of study, and destinations. It calls on leaders in government, education, and business to commit themselves to the following tasks:
President and Congress: Articulate the need for study abroad as an urgent national priority, provide a legislative framework, and make resources available to address barriers and increase participation
Governors and state legislatures: Make international education an integral part of efforts to enhance state economic development and competitiveness
College and university presidents: Implement strategies to encourage study abroad on a school-wide basis; address financial, curricular, and other disincentives to study abroad; and create new study abroad models and diverse study abroad options that make study abroad accessible to the broadest possible spectrum of students
Private sector: Encourage and assist schools in producing the globally competent workforce it requires
Professional licensing and accrediting agencies: Build global competence into curricular standards for professional schools.
Former U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley and former Illinois Senator Paul Simon are the honorary co-chairs of the Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad. The report includes and endorses a proposal by Senator Simon to establish a national study abroad scholarship program, supported by federal funding, that would greatly increase the amount of financial aid available to U.S. college students studying abroad.
At a time of serious foreign policy challenges and increasing globalization in all areas of life, the task force notes, there is an urgent need for more Americans with international skills and knowledge. To meet this need, more U.S. students must “devote a substantive portion of their education to gaining an understanding of other countries, regions, languages, and cultures, through direct personal experience.”
Securing America’s Future proposes a national effort to address the major obstacles to study abroad and to expand and diversify study abroad participants, fields of study, and destinations. It calls on leaders in government, education, and business to commit themselves to the following tasks:
President and Congress: Articulate the need for study abroad as an urgent national priority, provide a legislative framework, and make resources available to address barriers and increase participation
Governors and state legislatures: Make international education an integral part of efforts to enhance state economic development and competitiveness
College and university presidents: Implement strategies to encourage study abroad on a school-wide basis; address financial, curricular, and other disincentives to study abroad; and create new study abroad models and diverse study abroad options that make study abroad accessible to the broadest possible spectrum of students
Private sector: Encourage and assist schools in producing the globally competent workforce it requires
Professional licensing and accrediting agencies: Build global competence into curricular standards for professional schools.
