Advocacy
Advocacy Gains and Goals
As experts in—and ambassadors of—international education, CIEE is well-suited to spread the word about the great value of international exchange. By lobbying government officials, working with like-minded organizations, and raising awareness among the general public, we help both governments and private citizens recognize the benefits of exchange. We conduct advocacy of our own—supporting appropriate initiatives, viewpoints, and policies—as well as facilitate advocacy by you and other supporters. Together, we work to make the world climate favorable to student exchange.
Our work—and yours—is now more important than ever. Though experienced professionals consistently report that student exchange is the finest investment in public diplomacy that the U.S. can make, the student visa process has understandably come under increased scrutiny since 9/11. We take it as our task to ensure that the relationship between security and exchange is carefully balanced and that the U.S. continues to welcome young people from abroad who come here to study, work, and volunteer, ensuring that our students will continue to be welcomed as they go abroad. By learning to understand people of other nations firsthand, U.S. and international youth together lay the foundation for a future of national and worldwide social, political, and economic well-being.
Industry leadership
The active participation of CIEE in collaborative associations benefits the countless educators, students, and faculty who rely on CIEE to advance their collective voice. As a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the Forum on Education Abroad, and the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange, CIEE shares its considerable expertise and knowledge with the international education community.
Dr. Stevan Trooboff, President and CEO of CIEE, is a member of the Senate-selected Lincoln Commission. Together with his 16 fellow commissioners, Steve has been a part of shaping a significant new program to increase study abroad among American university students. The program, proposed by the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon, would provide undergraduates with federally-funded fellowships to study abroad. A highlight of its dramatic vision is the goal of sending one million students abroad each year by 2017—a marked increase from the 2006–2007 level of 241,791.
Lobbying elected officials
We have written carefully-crafted position letters to help you support initiatives before Congress related to international education, cultural exchange, and summer work and travel. We have undertaken extensive ad campaigns in local newspapers in areas where international exchange students abound. We have advertised in papers from Sandusky, Ohio to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, urging supporters to visit our website and email their elected representatives, resulting in thousands of support messages and letters.
Victory in promoting underrepresented faces...
CIEE has long been known for creating opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to participate in our study abroad programs. We defray the cost of overseas experiences for students who face financial barriers by administering the Robert B. Bailey Scholarship for underrepresented groups. We have been instrumental in forming NAFSA’s Latin America and Caribbean Special Interest Group and have representation on the advisory board of its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Special Interest Group. And we host the Committee on Underrepresentation in Education Abroad at our Annual Conference each November. CIEE is a founding member of the National Roundtable on Disabilities and Exchange and has been awarded Mobility International USA’s Award of Excellence for work in this area. We are active in the National Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Exchange, an advisory group composed of international educational exchange and disabilities organizations. For many years, it seemed we were doing a lot of work preparing our program sites and staff to receive students with disabilities but there were very few participants. It has been extremely gratifying for us to see a growing number of inquiries and participants with a wide range of disabilities in CIEE programs all over the world.
...and places
CIEE strongly encourages study in nontraditional locations in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America by offering the John E. Bowman Travel Grants to students going abroad to those destinations. We also collaborate with NAFSA in sponsoring the meetings of the Whole World Committee, held at our Annual Conference each November.