IIE is pleased to announce the 5th annual photo contest winners. Each year IIE requests photos from grantees of IIE's 200+ programs that tell the visual story of IIE and the students, scholars, or teachers who participate in our programs. Hundreds of grantees from all over the world entered this year’s contest and submitted more than 250 photos. After careful deliberation, the winners have been determined. Thanks to everyone who participated. We look forward to the next contest, which will be announced later this year.

Dr. Allan E. Goodman, IIE President and CEO, posted on IIE’s Opening Minds blog about the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ first U.S. performance. The anniversary was held at the British Embassy and featured a 1964 Beatles Tribute band. "As we left, the event also made me think about the full-page ad that Yoko Ono takes out every year on the anniversary of John Lennon's death. Her message is ‘Peace and Love.’ Not a bad reminder, when the songs stop playing inside my head, of how much these are needed," writes Dr. Goodman.

A recent article in University World News reports on Erasmus+, which entered into force on January 1, 2014. The new program budget is 40 percent greater than previous European exchange programs and includes several new approaches that "allow for significantly increased opportunities for students, academics, higher education institutions, enterprises and other academic and non-academic players."

The theme of this year’s Comparative & International Education Society (CIES) Conference will be "Re-visioning Education for All," which will "highlight cutting edge research on issues of equity and the right to education at all levels of learning." IIE's Center for Academic Mobility will lead the following sessions:

"STEM Global Mobility: Something Old or Something New?"

March 12, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM

Raisa Belyavina: Chair

Mirka Tvaruzkova: Discussant

"Indigenous Students and Education Policy in Latin America: Quantitative Analyses"

March 13, 12:00 PM–1:30 PM

Mirka Tvaruzkova: Panelist

For more information, contact CIESConference@gmail.com.

Government programs in Iraq are funding thousands of students for Master’s and Doctorate programs abroad, including Intensive English language programs. Most scholarship recipients request Conditional Admission until they have completed ESL programs on your campus to meet admission requirements. Recruiting Iraqi students face to face is the most effective way to identify high-quality applicants for your graduate programs.

Join us to meet scholarship holders from across Iraq and higher education officials interested in partnerships and collaboration.

For more information, contact Lorna Middlebrough at MiddlebroughLJ@state.gov.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is organizing its 6th International Private Education Conference. This event will bring together private education institutional leaders and practitioners, as well as representatives from companies devoted to education, to share knowledge, build relationships, and connect ideas with capital.

 

This year's theme, Rethinking Education, Shaping the Future, will highlight how innovation and technology in education delivery and results measurement are providing new tools for broadening access to education. There will also be robust and focused discussions on the role of private education in reducing the skills gap and increasing employment opportunities for young people. All these challenges need to be addressed to achieve the twin goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

 

Academic Cooperation Association ACA's 42nd European Policy Seminar will take an all-inclusive approach to the discussion of funding mobility. Main topics to be addressed include the roles, priorities and contributions of different funding instruments that are available for European students to study in another country within Europe or outside. Updates of new mobility funding instruments and some of the much desired empirical data on the quantitative contribution of different funding instruments will also be brought to you by speakers who are centrally involved in the provision of mobility funds or in research on mobility funding issues. Participants of the seminar may expect both intellectual exchanges with the speakers as well as practical examples of specific funding initiatives from them.

EU-level and national-level policymakers/administrators, higher education institutional leaders, independent researchers and students have been invited to speak at the event. Participants with similar profiles are welcome to attend the event.

 

The 2014 Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) Conference will take place in Seoul, Korea from March 17-20. The goal of the EducationUSA Pavilion is to increase the U.S. presence at Asia’s largest international higher education conference, attended by more than 1,300 higher education professionals and over 150 exhibitors. Professional EducationUSA staff will be present at the pavilion at all times to assist you in promoting educational opportunities in the U.S. and to facilitate meetings.

The U.S. Department of State and the National Geographic Society are partnering to launch the inaugural Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship competition. This new component of the Fulbright Program will offer up to five awards to U.S. citizens. Over a nine-month period, awardees will create multimedia stories on globally significant social or environmental topics including biodiversity, cities, climate change, cultures, energy, food, oceans, and water.　　

The Fulbright-National Geographic Fellowship provides a unique platform for U.S. Fulbright awardees to build awareness of transnational challenges, comparing and contrasting cross-border issues. Fellows will share their stories through National Geographic’s platforms, using a variety of digital storytelling tools, including text, photography, video, audio, graphic illustrations, and/or social media.

For more information, contact fulbright-natgeo@iie.org.

Botho University is seeking visiting faculty for one semester (July-Dec 2014) to teach Undergraduate programs in computing, accounting and business disciplines and to collaborate with Botho staff in research, curriculum development, and other activities. This is a wonderful opportunity for academics to work in Botswana, which is a truly beautiful part of Africa, and to help build bridges between respective institutions.

Contact Sheela Raja Ram at sheela@bothouniversity.ac.bw to discuss travel, accommodation, and details of other compensation.

 

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational, and Cultural Affair’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is pleased to announce that the online application is now open for students participating in study abroad programs and internships during the summer 2014 or fall/academic year 2014-2015 terms. The Gilman Program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study and intern abroad and the countries and regions where they go. All eligible applicants are encouraged to apply. For more information about the Gilman Scholarship, webinar schedules, and other helpful resources, please visit the Gilman website.

Students applying for any academic term must meet the eligibility requirements below:

• Enrolled as an undergraduate student at an accredited two- or four-year U.S. institution 
• Receiving a Federal Pell Grant at the time of application or during the term abroad 
• Be a United States citizen
• Participating in a study abroad program or internship that is no less than four weeks (28 days) in one country and no more than an academic year
• Applying to or accepted into a study abroad program or internship eligible for academic credit by the student's home institution
• Studying or interning in any country not currently under a U.S. State Department Travel Warning or Cuba

The Gilman International Scholarship Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE). Since the program’s inception in 2001, the Gilman Program has awarded over 15,000 U.S. undergraduates of high financial need to study and intern abroad in over 130 countries from more than 1,100 institutions.

The theme of Diversity Abroad ‘s 2nd Annual Conference is "Building Partnerships to Increase Access and Student Success in International Education." Professionals from around the country will gather to explore issues of access, inclusion, and diversity in education abroad and international education programming. The conference will focus on developing effective partnerships to increase access and student success for diverse and underrepresented student populations in international programming. This year's conference is hosted by the University of San Diego.