2008 Presidential Election Resources

Throughout this election season, NAFSA is engaged in a proactive effort to reach out to the presidential candidates and the American public to raise awareness about the importance of international education.

NAFSA urges the next president to advance national policies that launch the United States into its proper role as the global leader in educating the world, that foster a welcoming climate in which all can benefit from the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and that ensure that the next generation of our own citizens is well-equipped to succeed in a global environment.

International Education: The Neglected Dimension of Public Diplomacy

In a set of policy recommendations for the next administration released on August 8, 2008, NAFSA: Association of International Educators urges presidential leadership for a "revived public diplomacy" that would put international education and exchange front and center

Advance Praise
"This helpful report shows how important education and exchanges are to America's soft power in the world." Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Harvard University; former assistant secretary of defense

in the effort to repair the country’s reputation in the world and advance its global leadership.

In the introduction to International Education: The Neglected Dimension of Public Diplomacy, NAFSA notes: "At the heart of public diplomacy, in our view — and essential to the success of the rest of it—is the critical task of building, conducting, and sustaining the long-term relationships through which the world most fundamentally knows Americans and forms its core assumptions about what America is."

Read the full report

NAFSA's Letter to the 2008 Presidential Candidates

Last fall NAFSA sent a letter to the 2008 presidential candidates, urging them to consider how they, if elected, would marshal the vital resource of international education to serve the nation's needs. The letter urged the candidates, if elected, to marshal the resources of international education on behalf of the nation's greatest priorities, especially its global leadership, competitiveness, and national security.

Read the letter and supporting materials

NAFSA Conference Panels Discuss the 2008 Election

Moisés Naím and the Presidential Candidates' Advisers Conference Panel
The NAFSA 2008 Annual Conference hosted a panel discussion in which the presidential candidates' advisers discussed U.S. global leadership and engagement.

• Watch the panel discussion online
• Read a transcript of the session (196kb )

Judy Woodruff leads a panel of Keith Reinhard, Patricia de Stacy Harrison,
Hisham Melhem, & Shashi Tharoor
At two unique conference events that drew thousands of conference delegates, public diplomacy experts and foreign policy advisers to the presidential candidates looked to this election year as an opportunity to focus attention on the need to strengthen the United States' relationships with the rest of the world.

• Read a NAFSA Policy Brief on both discussions