U.S. International Education Policy Resolution Serves as Model for States

Last Updated June 2007

On March 16, 2005, U.S. Representative Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) introduced a bipartisan resolution, H.Con.Res.100, calling on Congress to express its support for an international education policy for the United States. This resolution received several cosponsors, but was not passed by the end of the 109th Congress.

While NAFSA continues to advocate for a national policy on international education, individual NAFSA members across the country are building momentum for this effort by working to get their state to pass a state-level international education resolution modeled after H.Con.Res.100 (33kb ).

The resolution called for a policy that would help to:

• Promote mutual understanding among nations by invigorating and promoting citizen, professional, and scholarly exchanges
• Ensure that visa and employment policies promote access to such exchanges, consistent with homeland security
• Increase participation by U.S. students in study and internships abroad, and expanding the locations, languages, and subjects offered by those programs
• Improve the U.S. capacity to produce citizens with international expertise
• Encourage foreign language learning at a early age
  
• Promote partnerships among government, business, educational institutions and organizations to ensure adequate resources for implementing such a policy