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John Brown aggregates all the most recent public diplomacy related news, including current issues in U.S. foreign policy, international broadcasting and media, propaganda, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, anti-Americanism, and the reception of American popular culture abroad.

AUGUST 17, 2005 EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
by Sherine Walton

WEEKLY EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT The following articles are related to educational and cultural exchange programs. Specific topics in this supplement include USG-funded exchange programs (e.g., Fulbright scholarships, Ron Brown Fellowship, International Visitors) as well as issues relating to student visas, study abroad, and NGOs involved in exchanges. The articles are aggregated weekly by STACY MICHELLE GLASSGOLD, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY. C.1) USG–FUNDED EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION C.2 FOR OTHER TOPICS) 1. NINETEEN IU BLOOMINGTON STUDENTS WIN FULBRIGHT GRANTS FOR 2005-06 (INDIANA UNIVERSITY NEWS, AUGUST 16TH 2005): 19 IU graduate students—six more than last year—have received prestigious IIE-Fulbright or Fulbright-Hays grants, both funded through major federal grant programs, for the 2005-06 academic year. LINK 2. FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR TO SPEND YEAR AT MANCHESTER, (WABASH PLAIN DEALER AUGUST 12TH 2005): Dr. Jorge Iván Bula Escobar of Bogotá, Colombia, will share his expertise on Latin American politics and economy as a Fulbright Scholar-in Residence at Manchester College for the 2005-2006 school year. For almost 20 years, he has lectured on globalization, human rights and Latin American development. LINK 3. FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS VISIT CITY TO LEARN OF RURAL LIFE, DON BOWEN (FREMONT TRIBUNE AUGUST 11TH 2005): For the second year, a group of international scholars visited Fremont, Nebraska, as part of the professional and academic Fulbright Scholar exchange program.  The visit to Fremont and other cities was part of a four-day orientation for students who have been awarded the highly competitive Fulbright scholarship for fall 2005. LINK 4. IT’S HER SECOND FULBRIGHT, JEAN JONES (BRIDGETON NEWS AUGUST 10TH 2005): Dr. Maxine Cornish Sample, formerly of Port Norris, has just received her second Fulbright Scholarship. While at the University of Zimbabwe, Sample will lecture on American and African American/Caribbean Literature and do research during the 2005-2006 academic year. LINK 5. SCHOLAR GETS FULBRIGHT TO STUDY DANCE IN COLOMBIA, EMILY COAKLEY (THE HERALD-SUN, AUGUST 14TH 2005): Joy Williams, a 2003 graduate of Wheaton College, left for Bogotá, Colombia, this past week on a Fulbright scholarship.  Williams plans to study Afro-Colombian dance at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. LINK C.2) OTHER NEWS ON EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE ISSUES 6. OUTSIDE VIEW: STEP UP CULTURAL EXCHANGES, REBECCA P. TOLLEFSON (WORLD PEACE HERALD, AUGUST 11TH 2005): **Note: Although opinion pieces are not usually included in the supplement, this is a thoughtful analysis of state-sponsored exchange programs**. The Middle East Partnership Initiative’s “Study of the US,” the latest program from the State Department to sponsor student exchange to promote cultural understanding to issue illustrates, ironically, exactly what is missing in such programs today in the United States: exchange. LINK 7. FOREIGN RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS STUDENTS START LEAVING COUNTRY (PAKISTANLINK.COM, AUGUST 10TH 2005): The first in a group of foreign students of Islamic schools has left Pakistan to return home since General Musharraf’s announcement on July 29 that some 1,400 foreign pupils at madrassas must leave the country. LINK 8. VIET NAM-JAPAN CULTURAL EXCHANGE FESTIVAL SCHEDULED IN HOI AN (VNA, AUGUST 15TH 2005): The third Viet Nam-Japan Cultural Exchange Festival will be held in Hoi An, central Quang Nam province, from August 19-21 to promote exchanges between the two countries through a program that introduces the Vietnamese and Japanese traditional cultures. LINK 9. COLLEGES FINDING A SHALLOWER POOL OF FOREIGN GRADUATE STUDENT CANDIDATES, JOEL STASHENKO (THE BUSINESS REVIEW, ALBANY, AUGUST 14TH 2005): Security concerns following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001—at least six of the hijackers were in this country on student visas—caused the United States to curtail the issuing of visas, expel foreigners on expired student visas and institute a tracking system for students in the country with valid visas.  As a result, the competition is fierce for foreign graduate students. LINK 10. SHAHZAD ASKS US AMBASSADOR TO SIMPLIFY VISA POLICY FOR PAK STUDENTS, BUSINESSMEN (INTERNATIONAL NEWS NETWORK, AUGUST 15TH 2005): Senator Dr. Shahzad Waseem, State Minister for Interior, met with Patricia Butonis, acting US Ambassador, and Zandra Lemister, USA Council General to apprise them of the difficulties faced by Pakistani students and businessmen in issuance of visas to US. He said that facilitation in traveling of Pakistanis to US will help in strengthening friendship at people to people level. LINK 11. CONNOR DELIGHTED TO BE IN CHENNAI (CHENNAIONLINE.COM AUGUST 16th 2005): Mike Connor, the new British Deputy High Commissioner in Southern India, said Student visas issued in south India have gone up ten-fold over the past decade—5,500 issued in 2004 alone and that all applicants can now track their status via SMS on their mobile phones. LINK 12. SPAIN MAY SIGN OFFSET PROGRAM WITH SAUDI ARABIA (MENAFM.COM, AUGUST 14TH 2005): Spain’s new ambassador to the Kingdom, Manuel Alabart, said that his country was seeking a significant expansion of bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia, including defense, energy, water treatment and tourism sectors. On the cultural front, the embassy will hold a Saudi artists’ exhibition and promote cultural exchange on a reciprocal basis. LINK 13. FOREIGN WORKERS FLOCK TO CAPE REGION EACH SUMMER, JIM WESTHOFF (CAPE-GAZETTE, AUGUST 16TH 2005): Thousands of students from all over the world descend on the Delaware Cape Region during the summer to work and live like Americans. The young people arrive each summer primarily through a student-exchange program and hold J-visas under the State Department’s exchange visitor program. LINK 14. EXCHANGE STUDENTS TAKE PART IN ‘CAMP,’ PAMELA SCHEHL (MOUNT VERNON NEWS, AUGUST 11TH 2005): 20 foreign exchange students participated in a language and cultural exchange ‘camp’ being hosted by the Trinity Assembly of God. The month-long program is specifically designed to help the students get ready for life in an American high school. LINK  
 
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