U.S. Government Exchanges: the Quest for Coordination

Abstract

The nature and range of international exchanges in the past three decades is impressive. Despite the fact that federally sponsored exchanges account for only 5 percent of the total of foreign visitors in this country, this 5 percent embraced, in fiscal year 1977, some 39,000 individuals under the auspices of several dozen agencies and at an estimated total cost of $662 million. The total estimate for purposeful, that is, nonmilitary and nontouristic foreign exchanges, is estimated to be over one million exchanges annually. Since 1953, attempts have been made to collect data about federal exchange programs and to coordinate this activity. Increas ingly, better data and interagency information sharing will be needed to assess the impact of exchanges and areas where shrinking funds can best be invested. Better infusion of exchanges experiences into educational programming aimed at educating Americans about other peoples and cultures is similarly a challenge in the eighties.