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The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) is a non-profit organization promoting international education and exchange. It was founded in 1947 and is based in the United States. The organization is headquartered in Portland, Maine.
CIEE operates over 175 study abroad programs in over 40 countries and teaching programs in Chile, China, Spain, and Thailand. Summer seminars in 29 countries are available. As the largest sponsor of J-1 visa programs, CIEE organizes seasonal work experiences in the United States for approximately 45,000 university students each year through its Work & Travel USA program. It also organizes high school exchange programs for students in the United States as well as more than 30 countries around the world.
CIEE also maintains a membership community, the CIEE Academic Consortium. Academic institutions join the consortium in order to affiliate with CIEE's mission, to support CIEE's advocacy efforts in Washington and other world capitals, and to have a policy voice in CIEE's educational programs and activities. As such, CIEE Members are part of a worldwide network of colleges and universities.
Among others, CIEE established the Council Study Centre at Vietnam National University, which receives about 50 students from various countries learning Vietnamese language and other sciences, and Study Center in Khon Kaen, Thailand.
One of the major goals after World War II was to develop international understanding and establish trust between nations. The development of student and teacher travel was considered the most effective tool to achieve that goal. As Senator J. William Fulbright said, “Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations” (Fulbright, 1994). In the United States, a number of organizations and religious groups became immediately interested in re-establishing various types of educational exchange programs that had been suspended in 1939 at the beginning of the war.
There was a strong political rationale for the U.S. government to support student travel abroad programs. Students were seen as “ambassadors” of their own country who would represent the best national interests of the American society abroad and promote international understanding. At the same time, development of student travel abroad for educational and cultural purposes preserved a strong academic interest resulting from broadening the horizons of the younger generation and educating them through exchanges for cross-cultural and international competence.
In 1946, the international situation and the shortage of ships in trans-Atlantic service did not permit such travel, but in 1947 many organizations endeavored to send exchange students abroad to conferences, work camps, and study seminars. It was recognized that special provisions would need to be made for U.S. student groups going to Europe during the summer seasons and that only joint efforts could be undertaken in order to pursue this goal.
Prior to May 1947, representatives of a number of educational agencies had been negotiating with the U.S. Department of State about the possibility of utilizing troop transports for the re-establishment of educational travel and exchange programs during the summer of 1947. In April 1947, at the request of the Department of State, the Maritime Commission agreed to assign two C-4 Troop ships to be used for sending U.S. students on exchange programs to Europe that summer. The United States Lines and the Moore-McCormick Line were asked to serve as general agents for these vessels (although at a later date the Moore-McCormick Line was dropped and the United States Lines took full responsibility for the operation of the vessels).
The Department of State was given the responsibility for determining which organizations and which students would be permitted to travel abroad on these ships. On October 21, 1948, 45 U.S., Western European, and international organizations (including UNESCO, U.S. Office of Education, World Federation of Education Associations, U.S. National Student Association, National Student YMCA, and YMCA) met to discuss the Student Ship Project.
A group of leaders from the organizations most directly concerned secured government action to set aside special student ships, and formed themselves into an Executive Committee which would allocate space and administer the shipboard orientation programs. That effort gave way to the future Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the leading and oldest U.S. non-governmental organization in the field of international education and student study abroad.[ citation needed ]
In 1967, CIEE started the first academic exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was situated at Leningrad University. [1] Graduates of the program include Michael McFaul, the United States Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014. [2]
In April 2016, CIEE and The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School for Education Center for Minority Serving Institutions announced a joint $100,000 scholarship and three-year partnership to increase study abroad opportunities for students of color. [3]
The CIEE Alumni Global Network is a group of more than 350,000 alumni from all CIEE programs, living and working in over 176 countries around the world. This includes past participants of CIEE Study Abroad, Teach Abroad, Work and Travel USA, Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, High School Abroad, Baltic-American Freedom Foundation, and more.
The CIEE Alumni Global Network has many notable alumni, including U.S. ambassadors and leaders in international exchange.[ citation needed ]
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nations, its primary duties are advising the U.S. president on international relations, administering diplomatic missions, negotiating international treaties and agreements, and representing the U.S. at the United Nations. The department is headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building, a few blocks from the White House, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.; "Foggy Bottom" is thus sometimes used as a metonym.
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. Via the program, competitively-selected American citizens including students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists, and artists may receive scholarships or grants to study, conduct research, teach, or exercise their talents abroad; and citizens of other countries may qualify to do the same in the United States.
Academic mobility refers to students and teachers in higher education moving to another institution inside or outside of their own country to study or teach for a limited time.
A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but does not necessarily require the student to study outside their home country.
International education refers to a dynamic concept that involves a journey or movement of people, minds, or ideas across political and cultural frontiers. It is facilitated by the globalization phenomenon, which increasingly erases the constraints of geography on economic, social, and cultural arrangements. The concept involves a broad range of learning, for example, formal education and informal learning. It could also involve a reorientation of academic outlook such as the pursuit of "worldmindedness" as a goal so that a school or its academic focus is considered international. For example, the National Association of State Universities prescribes the adoption of "proper education" that reflects the full range of international, social, political, cultural, and economic dialogue. International educators are responsible for "designing, managing, and facilitating programs and activities that help participants to appropriately, effectively, and ethically engage in interactions with culturally diverse people and ideas."
Established on February 27, 1977, the Fulbright Association is a private, nonprofit organization whose members are Fulbright Program alumni and friends of international education. The association supports and promotes international educational and cultural exchange and the ideal most associated with the Fulbright name—mutual understanding among the peoples of the world.
For over 60 years, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) has helped administer the Fulbright Scholar Program, the U.S. government's flagship academic exchange effort, on behalf of the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Founded in 1947, CIES is a private organization with a staff of around 60 people supplemented by 300 voluntary peer reviewers, primarily academics. CIES is a division of the Institute of International Education (IIE).
The Experiment in International Living, or The Experiment, is a worldwide program offering homestays, language, arts, community service, ecological adventure, culinary, and regional and cultural exploration programs of international cross-cultural education for high school students. It is administered by World Learning, a non-profit, international development and education organization based in Brattleboro, Vermont, in the United States.
EducationUSA is a US Department of State network of international student advising centers in more than 170 countries. Officially a branch of the Office of Global Educational Programs, a part of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), the ECA fosters mutual understanding between the United States and other countries by promoting personal, professional, and institutional ties between private citizens and organizations in the United States and abroad, as well as by presenting U.S. history, society, art and culture to overseas audiences.
The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization that focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educators, and professionals from various sectors. The organization says its mission is to "build more peaceful and equitable societies by advancing scholarship, building economies, and promoting access to opportunity".
NAFSA: Association of International Educators is a non-profit professional organization for professionals in all areas of international education including education abroad advising and administration, international student advising, campus internationalization, admissions, outreach, overseas advising, and English as a Second Language (ESL) administration. As of 2010, it served approximately 10,000 educators worldwide, representing nearly 3,000 higher education institutions.
Work abroad is the term used when a student teaches, interns, or volunteers in a foreign country through a programme. Students gain work experience while being immersed in a foreign work environment, though the position may be paid or unpaid. Dependent upon the programme, a student working abroad may live in a dormitory or apartment with other students or with a "host family", a group of people who live in that country and agree to provide student lodging.
The US-UK Fulbright Commission was created by a treaty signed by the United Kingdom and the United States on 22 September, 1948. It is a non-profit organisation based in London, UK. It aims to foster mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between both nations. Fulbright helps students, scholars and professionals interested in studying abroad in the US or UK through its scholarship programme and its EducationUSA advice service.
The National Security Language Initiative (NSLI) is a program introduced by United States President George W. Bush on January 5, 2006 at the U.S. University President's Summit to develop the foreign language skills of American high school students, especially in "critical-need" foreign languages such as Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Hindi, and Persian. The initiative was given $114 million in fiscal year 2007 and $26.6 million in 2008 to expand programs from kindergarten level to universities. Schools were additionally awarded $750 million for critical language education.
World Learning is a 501(c)(3) international nonprofit organization that focuses on international development, education, and exchange programs. Based in Brattleboro, Vermont, World Learning "unlocks the potential of people to address critical global issues" through its core program areas: The Experiment in International Living, the School for International Training, and International Development and Exchange Programs.
The US–China Education Trust is a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. Founded in 1998 by Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, the first Chinese-American U.S. Ambassador, USCET seeks to promote China–United States relations through a series of education and exchange programs. The organization sponsors a variety of fellowships, conferences, workshops and exchanges, focused primarily on strengthening Chinese academic institutions related to the fields of American Studies, Media and Journalism, American Governance, and International Relations.
United States cultural exchange programs, particularly those programs with ties to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State, seek to develop cultural understanding between United States citizens and citizens of other countries. Exchange programs do not necessarily exchange one individual for another individual of another country; rather, "exchange" refers to the exchange of cultural understanding created when an individual goes to another country. These programs can be regarded as a form of cultural diplomacy within the spectrum of public diplomacy.
The Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States of America, Belgium, and Luxembourg is located in Brussels, Belgium, with the office situated at the Royal Library Albert I. It is a not-for profit organization that is responsible for administering Fulbright grants for citizens of Belgium and Luxembourg. It also serves as the EducationUSA Advising Center in Belgium.
The Congressional International Exchange and Study Caucus is a caucus of the United States Congress that aims to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of international exchange and study abroad programs, which enable international citizens to have meaningful exchange experiences in the United States, and Americans to have such beneficial experiences in other countries. It is co-chaired in the 114th Congress by Representatives Steve Pearce of New Mexico and Jim Himes of Connecticut.
William L. Gertz is the Chairman, President and CEO of the American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS), a cultural exchange and educational travel company with 10 global locations, headquartered in Stamford, CT.
