Last modified: Thursday, January 5, 2006
IU president to participate in summit on international education
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 5, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Adam W. Herbert will be speaking at a national summit taking place today and tomorrow (Jan. 5-6) in Washington, D.C., where he will join President George W. Bush and cabinet officials in discussing international education.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings are co-hosting the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education, which they called to "engage U.S. higher education leaders in a renewed partnership to strengthen international education, emphasizing its importance to the national interest."
The summit was organized by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to initiate a dialogue on the need for government to work collaboratively with the non-governmental sector on the future of U.S. higher education in a global arena. Approximately 120 leaders from public and private universities, community colleges, historically black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions and other institutions have been invited along with the heads of the federal science and humanities bodies.
Herbert will be a panelist for the Friday session on "Preparing Globally Competitive U.S. Students," which will be led by Tom Luce, U.S. Department of Education assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development. He will be joined by Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University System, and Walter Massey, president of Morehouse College.
Herbert said IU is seen as a leader in language instruction. For example, its recently established Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region -- which is developing textbooks, multimedia resources, teacher training and distance language learning courses for the Pashto, Tajik, Uyghur, Uzbek and Kazakh languages -- receives a grant through the U.S. Department of Education. IU also has strong partnerships overseas in foreign language instruction and sends close to 1,500 students abroad annually for study in more than 35 countries.
"Because of Indiana University's long-standing international stature, this meeting with the president, the secretary of state and the secretary of education is particularly significant," Herbert said.
"One of my priorities has been to sustain and enhance Indiana University's long history of international prominence. Last year, I was honored to be invited by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to present testimony on international student and scholar visas. I look forward to participating in this summit and articulating IU's strong priorities in international education, research and outreach," Herbert added.
The summit will focus on how to attract foreign students and scholars to study in the United States, as well as how to encourage more American students to receive part of their education abroad. Participants will discuss marketing of U.S. higher education programs abroad, reaching out to underserved populations, understanding visa and regulatory processes, and cooperating to meet exchange priorities. It also will draw attention to the investments needed to strengthen international higher education for Americans, including increasing access to programs for study abroad.
Across the university, IU has more than 4,550 international students, including 3,318 enrolled at IU Bloomington and 941 at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Another 1,200 international scholars conducted research and taught at IU campuses last year.
IU's lengthy history in international education includes its widely acclaimed area studies centers at IU Bloomington. The first of these research centers, now the Russian and East European Institute, was founded in 1958 at IU Bloomington. Faculty associated with IU's area studies centers are drawn from almost every department in the College of Arts and Sciences as well as from most of the professional schools.
Five area studies centers are designated as "national resource centers" through Title VI federal funding, and they also offer Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships for graduate students.
According to Open Doors, a report on international educational exchange produced by the Institute of International Education, Indiana ranks 10th nationally in the number of foreign students enrolled at the state's universities. The report found they had an economic impact of $332.6 million.
The IIE report ranked the IU Bloomington campus 13th nationally in international student enrollment (other IU campuses were not included in the tally).
Patrick O'Meara, IU dean of international programs since 1993 and formerly director of African studies, said of the summit, "I am delighted that international education is being given such prominence. It is a reflection of the crucial importance of languages and knowledge of other cultures to our national priorities."
In addition to IU, Purdue University and Ball State University also will represent the state at the summit.
