American Senator Paul Simon introduced a Study Abroad Foundation act to the US Senate earlier this month. The act is intended to provide a dramatic increase in the number of American undergraduates who go abroad to undertake part of their studies in other countries.

The act is part of the House Foreign Relations Authorizations Act with a particular focus on ensuring access to study abroad opportunities for all students and on the developing world.

Last year, the bill passed the House of Representatives with unanimous support and received strong bipartisan support in the Senate, including that of then-senators President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was one step short of being passed when the legislative clock expired last autumn.

NAFSA: Association of International Educators says the Simon Act has been endorsed by more than 40 higher education and international exchange organisations. It notes that only 1% of US undergraduates do go overseas to study.

"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 programme would revolutionise America's capacity to understand, relate to, and lead responsibly in the world," said NAFSA Executive Director and CEO Marlene Johnson.

Johnson said that while the bill's primary purpose was to authorise funding for the Department of State's operations, other key components included establishing a Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation, which would increase participation, ensure such experiences were universally available to US students from all backgrounds, and emphasise study abroad in non-traditional locations, such as developing countries.

The bill will also double the size of the Peace Corps, increase the authorisation amount for the department's educational and cultural exchange programmes to more than $633 million for 2010, and "such sums as may be necessary" for 2011. As well, it will create educational exchange programmes to provide scholarships to students from various regions of the world to study in the US.

Comment:

You need to revise or ammend your announcement to reflect that this bill was
proposed several years ago in memory of the late US Senator Paul (November
29, 1928-December 9, 2003) who strongly believed in international education.

See:
www.nafsa.org

Jim Ellis

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