A workshop at the Association of International Schools in Africa Teachers’ Conference in Mbabane, Swaziland

Each year, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Overseas Schools sponsors, and the College Board delivers, a series of AP® and Pre-AP® professional development events for teachers at international and American-style schools outside of the United States. These schools educate dependents of many expatriate U.S. citizens, as well as international students of various nationalities. The workshops are hosted by different international schools and regional school association conferences that are held around the world each year.

Over the last couple of months, workshops have been held in China at the American International School of Guangzhou (Chemistry, Psychology, Studio Art) with teachers from seven countries in Asia participating. The AP workshops held at the American School Foundation in Mexico City (Biology, English and Physics) drew teachers from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Colombia. Workshops were also held in conjunction with the Tri-Association Conference
in San Jose, Costa Rica, which attracted more than 700 educators from international and American-style schools in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Colombia. Similarly, workshops were offered at the Association of International Schools in Africa Teachers’
Conference in Mbabane, Swaziland.

In addition to AP and Pre-AP professional development for teachers, the Office of Overseas Schools also provides a program that enables senior university admissions deans to visit international and American-style schools to speak with students, parents and educators about
the college admissions process and trends in university admissions in the United States. This program, which is managed by the College Board Office of International Education, has already brought admissions experts to schools and regional conferences in Latin America and will continue to operate in other regions throughout the academic year.

There is a strong focus on global issues and the environment at international school regional association conferences, and the College Board contributed to this important theme and conversation with two keynote addresses.

Dorothy Mushayavanhu, professor of International Environmental Law and Public International Law at the University of Zimbabwe and a former visiting scholar at the College Board, delivered a keynote address at the AISA All-Africa Administrators’ and Teachers’ Conference in Kampala, Uganda, on environmental issues facing Africa and the world and the role of education in solving these issues, particularly the role of international schools.

Jim Montoya, College Board vice president for higher education relationship development, delivered a keynote address at the Near East South Asia Council’s Fall Leadership Conference in Amman, Jordan, which was attended by administrators from international and American schools throughout the region. Montoya’s remarks, entitled “The Global Generation: They Are Counting on Us,” addressed the role that educators play in preparing today’s students for a global world that poses different challenges and opportunities from those faced by previous generations.

EducationUSA

From left to right: EducationUSA trainee Sharifa Djurabaeva enjoys learning about international student services at University of Evansville in Indiana during orientation activities with her Explore Program hosts Beverly Fowler and Rebecca Poelhuis, director and coordinator, respectively, of Evansville’s Office of International Admission.

EducationUSA is a global network of more than 450 advising centers, supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, that actively promotes U.S. higher education around the world. Professional advisers, many of whom have studied in the United States, offer comprehensive information about educational opportunities in the United States to millions of prospective students each year and guide qualified individuals to
those opportunities.

Working at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In August, Sharifa Djurabaeva, who works at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, helped to pilot the new EducationUSA Explore training program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, to familiarize the program’s advisers with American higher education admissions and programs. Djurabaeva arrived at the University of Evansville in Indiana, and spent the next three weeks experiencing international student orientation, academic classes and college life in southern Indiana, so she can return to Uzbekistan and counsel students there who are applying to U.S. degree programs. Djurabaeva arrived at the University of Evansville in Indiana, and spent the next three weeks experiencing international student orientation, academic classes and college life in southern Indiana, so she can return to Uzbekistan and counsel students there who are applying to U.S. degree programs.

The fall 2008 United States Based Training program will allow 20 advisers to sample student life later this month on campuses in Missouri, Virginia, Utah and West Virginia after attending educational conferences in New Haven, Conn., Pittsburgh, Pa., Chicago, Ill., and the College Board Forum in Houston, Texas. This hands-on experience in American culture and the chance to meet professional colleagues in U.S. higher education provide EducationUSA advisers with unique and often life-changing professional development.

New and returning cultural attachés from embassies in the nation’s capital were offered an orientation on U.S. higher education at the Embassy Dialogue Committee on Education’s fall 2008 Forum held Oct. 15 in Washington.

Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, led a discussion on international student mobility and differences between educational systems in the U.S. and in other countries. Next month the institute will release the annual Open Doors report, funded by the U.S. Department of State, that will reveal new statistics on global student flows.

A panel representing the College Board, AMIDEAST, The Catholic University of America, American and Marymount Universities, and Howard Community College provided briefings on resources available to embassies for international education programs. Janine Farhat, special projects manager for international education at the College Board, discussed the role of associations in education policy, advocacy, research and exchange initiatives. Other topics included organizations that sponsor students and scholars, government agency programs and regulation, and campus services for international students. The evening concluded with a reception at the Embassy of Costa Rica, which was co-sponsored by the Embassy of Argentina.

The EDC, which is affiliated with NAFSA: Association of International Educators, draws its membership from the diplomatic corps, U.S. educational institutions and private international education agencies. The members, who are largely volunteers, are highly committed to enhancing communication between cultural attachés and representatives from U.S. higher education.

Representatives from U.S. institutions and organizations are welcome to attend future EDC events. For more information, go to the EDC Web site or e-mail Janine Farhat at the
College Board’s Office of International Education.

Click here to see events and workshops in the International region.