Policy Priorities

A national strategy for international education would serve to proactively recruit talented students and scholars to U.S. colleges and universities from countries around the world and increase the number and diversity of U.S. students who can access the career skills associated with study abroad.

We urge support for robust funding of international education programs as part of FY2023 appropriations. We request Congress provide $1.1 billion for the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and $161 million for the Education Department’s Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs.

Lawmakers will soon be reconciling House and Senate legislation related to U.S. innovation and competitiveness, H.R. 4521, the America COMPETES Act of 2022 and S. 1260, the U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act (USICA) of 2021. NAFSA is urging Congress to retain key provisions related to international education and exchange in the final package. Learn more below about the provisions and how to take action.

The Biden-Harris administration began at an unprecedented moment in U.S. history. The COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, travel restrictions were in pace around the world, and international education was in crisis. Today, rebuilding and restoring U.S. engagement with the world is critical. This is essential if we are to get the country’s economy and higher education system back on track. International education must be a key element of this recovery.

NAFSA urges Congress to provide critical financial resources, oversight, and policy changes in order to revive and restore international student enrollment and study abroad programs at U.S. colleges and universities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it.

To make study abroad the norm, not the exception, for today's U.S. college student Congress should pass the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act to incentivize higher education to increase study abroad and provide a cost-effective, sustainable way to ensure more diverse U.S. undergraduates can study internationally.

Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, NAFSA has identified urgent policy and actions the Biden administration should adopt to help protect lives and provide a measure of stability to Afghan students, scholars, and researchers--particularly women and girls.