More about Cuts to Funding for International Education

As you may be aware, federal lawmakers have enacted a 40% budget cut to Title IV of the Higher Education Act and to the Fulbright-Hayes Act. The programs support academic centers at American universities and grants for doctoral students to conduct research overseas. Miriam Kazanjian of the Coalition for International Education has compiled links to several articles and resources discussing the cuts:

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an April 13th summary of the proposed cuts and their potential impacts: http://chronicle.com/article/Language-and/127122 . Inside Higher Ed has a similar summary: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/04/15/international_education_takes_hit_in_2011_budget

Read a June 1st summary in Education Week here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/01/33language.h30.html?tkn=PMPFia%2F9LW%2BuX06jP%2FaviFcq6z5s82vo%2BNGy&cmp=clp-edweek

A more recent summary of the outlook for international education programs is available here: http://chronicle.com/article/In-Next-US-Budget-Outlook/127743

An interesting analysis of how the cuts came about and what they may say about the Obama administration is available from Jadaliyya at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1685/running-on-empty_international-education-funding-g

Read editorials describing how cuts to international education may be harmful to the US.
In Time magazine: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/06/02/the-ramifications-of-cutting-international-education-programs
In the Atlantic Review: http://atlanticreview.org/archives/1478-Tomahawk-Missiles-Instead-of-Fulbright-Scholars.html

Several post-secondary institutions ponder how the cuts will impact their programs.
Cornell: http://cornelldailysun.com/section/news/content/2011/04/25/government-budget-cuts-may-kill-language-programs
UCLA: http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/PRN-cuts-threaten-fellowships-foreign-202310.aspx
Duke: http://today.duke.edu/2011/05/titlevi
Minnesota: http://www.mndaily.com/2011/05/04/u-international-programs-face-large-cut-feds

John McCain calls the cuts “short-sighted”: scroll down to the third paragraph from the end at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/25/straight_talk_on_the_arab_spring?page=full

Not everyone thinks that our country’s international educational programs deserve funding. Read an editorial in support of the cuts: http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubid.4435/pub_detail.asp
Read a May 5 editorial cheering the cuts and urging reform here: http://chronicle.com/article/Americas/127413
Read a rebuttal to the above editorial here: http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/127734

Naturally bloggers are also commenting on the proposed cuts. Here are two posts: http://ridingthirdrail.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/fulbright-hays-the-newest-victim-of-education-cuts and http://grazu.com/?p=792

There are two Facebook pages set up for supporters of Fulbright-Hays and Title VI: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Fulbright-Hays-Programs/219331454753009 and https://www.facebook.com/savetitlevi

For more information about Fulbright/Hays and Title VI you can visit a website that was set up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Higher Education Act by the Coalition for International Education and the American Council on Education/Center for International Initiatives: http://www.usglobalcompetence.org/index.html