Durable Academic Linkages Overseas: A National Agenda

Abstract

As a nation we spend about $1 billion annually on a bewildering potpourri of international exchange and training programs. Some attention to the cross-sectional profile of exchanges resulting from the many individual programs is needed. The current mix of programs is unbalanced as to sponsor, clientele, countries covered, and purpose. Four functions of exchange and training programs are identified: (1) the export of American technology and skills; (2) familiarization with another society; (3) transnational sharing of science and technology; and (4) research about other countries. It is argued that our overwhelming emphasis on the first two purposes must be balanced by greater emphasis on the latter two. In particular, in the social sciences and the humanities the provision of opportunities to build an interacting network of scholars similar to those in the natural sciences is called for. There is also a need for an increase in the opportunities for international affairs specialists to conduct their research abroad.

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References

1. For these and other data on governmentally supported international exchange and training programs as of 1984, see “Report on U.S. Government International Research and Training Programs, 1984,” mimeographed (Washington, DC: United States Information Agency, 1985).

2. Sponsored Projects, Nineteen Eighty-Four (New York: Institute of International Education, 1984), p. 5.

3. For country profiles, see “U.S. Government International Research and Training Programs,” app. A.

4. For an interesting discussion of this issue with respect to our reopened scholarly relations with China, see David M. Lampton , Joyce Madancy , and Kristen W. Williams , A Relationship Restored: Trends in U.S. China Educational Exchanges, 1978-1984 (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1986).

5. Coordination of International Exchange and Training Programs (Washington, DC: General Accounting Office, 1978).

6. “Minutes of the First Meeting of the Advisory Panel on International Educational Exchange,” mimeographed (Washington, DC: United States Information Agency, 1982), p. 1. The final report was issued in Mar. 1986.

7. For a discussion of the issues relating to the internationalization of science, see International Mobility of Scientists and Engineers (Washington, DC: National Research Council, 1981).

8. Ibid., pp. 5-6.

9. “Report on the Research Access Conference, November 18-19, 1985,” mimeographed (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1986).