Member News

Letter from IIE President Allan Goodman: International Education Week

By Allan Goodman | President| Institute of International Education

Today, I invite you to celebrate International Education Week, created as a joint initiative by the Department of Education and the Department of State in 2000. We work in international education every day, but this week is a particularly important one in which to reflect on the value and importance of the work that we all do.

Let us also reflect on the strength of the IIENetwork community. Collectively, you represent 1,300 institutions and 7,000 individuals across the globe working in a range of capacities to promote and further opportunities for students and scholars. This week honors your efforts to foster greater inclusivity and understanding across borders and cultures.

We began the week with the release of the 2017 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, the premier source for data on international mobility in U.S. higher education. IIE has conducted an annual statistical survey of campuses regarding the international students in the United States since 1919, and with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs since the early 1970s.

As we have consistently seen from year to year, there is growing engagement in international education across the world. Globally, the United States leads the way, hosting more international students than any other country in the world. For the second consecutive year, the United States educated more than one million international students.

More American students are going abroad than ever before as well. In 2015-2016, more than 325,300 students studied abroad, representing an increase of nearly 4 percent. Each year, those numbers have gone steadily up, with the result that the numbers of Americans abroad has more than tripled over the past two decades. However, still only about 10 percent of all U.S. college students study abroad.

Be sure to follow IIE’s social media channels for new content as the week progresses and take a look at our website for the latest information. We want to hear from you about how international education has made a change in your life, be it through a new connection, experience or skill you gained while abroad. Find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Tag @IIEglobal and use our hashtags #IEW2017 and #PowerofIIE.

We take this week to celebrate the connections and individual development made possible by opportunities in international education. In today’s economy, international experiences and forming cross-cultural networks are an invaluable currency. Without your efforts, none of this would be possible.

As always, our work continues. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Allan Goodman
President and CEO, Institute of International Education

Compliments of Institute of International Education, a member of the EACCNY