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John Brown aggregates all the most recent public diplomacy related news, including current issues in U.S. foreign policy, international broadcasting and media, propaganda, cultural diplomacy, educational exchanges, anti-Americanism, and the reception of American popular culture abroad.

AUGUST 3, 2005 EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
by Stacy Glassgold

C) WEEKLY EXCHANGES SUPPLEMENT
The following articles are related to educational and cultural exchange programs. Specific topics in this supplement include USG-funded exchange programs (e.g., Fulbright scholarships, Ron Brown Fellowship, International Visitors) as well as issues relating to student visas, study abroad, and NGOs involved in exchanges. The articles are aggregated weekly by STACY MICHELLE GLASSGOLD, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY.

C.1) USG–FUNDED EXCHANGE PROGRAMS (SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION C.2 FOR OTHER TOPICS)

1. US CONGRESS PLANS CHARM ATTACK ON KOREA (CHOSUN ILBO JULY 29TH 2005): After some harsh words about South Korea from senior lawmakers, the U.S. Congress is now planning a charm offensive to improve the image of America in a country increasingly looking to go its own way. The plan includes opening an additional diplomatic office in Busan and making Fulbright scholarships more widely available to Korean students.
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2. PRESSURE TO BE TRADITIONAL HURTING (KOLKATA NEWSLINE, JULY 31ST 2005): Sixteen American educators in humanities and social sciences came to India for five and a half weeks to improve their understanding of gender issues. They will be returning with the knowledge that western academics and the ground scenario elsewhere may not match exactly. The educators were in Kolkata as part of their larger tour of India under the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program and have been conducting seminars in eight Indian cities.
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3. FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR HEEDS CALL OF PUBLIC SERVICE, PAT SHERMAN (SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE, JULY 29TH 2005): David Larson, 22, was recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship to teach in Pamplona, Spain, making him Rancho Bernardo’s first student Fulbright scholar. Larson said he applied for the Fulbright grant as a way to further his goal of working cross-culturally with developing countries While in Spain, he will study whether the ancient healing arts are practical and effective for use in poor nations.
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4. UNCW FACULTY MEMBER RECEIVES AWARD (KINSTON FREE PRESS, JULY 29TH 2005): Todd Berliner, associate professor of film studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant.  He will lecture at Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema in Vietnam during the 2005-06 academic year, where he will teach American cinema and assist with film studies program development in Vietnam.
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5. A CULTURAL EXCHANGE—LONGVIEW’S JANE DITEWIG WILL SWAP JOBS WITH BETHUNE, FRANCE, TEACHER IN FULBRIGHT EXCHANGE PROGRAM, HOPE ANDERSON (LONGVIEW DAILY NEWS, JULY 28TH 2005): This coming school year Jane Ditewig, a French teacher at R.A. Long High School, will trade teaching positions and homes with an English teacher from France. Ditewig will be one of roughly 170 Americans traveling abroad through the prestigious Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, which aims to increase mutual understanding among countries.
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C.2) OTHER NEWS ON EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE ISSUES

6. LONDON BOMBINGS NOT TO RESTRICT STUDENT VISAS, SUJOY DHAR (IANS, JULY 29TH 2005) The terror attacks on London will not lead to a restricted visa regime for “legitimate” Indian students going for studies to Britain.  British Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata Andrew Hall told IANS here: “Back home we held discussions to tighten the system for those without proper credentials but it would not lead to denial of visa to the legitimate students from India.”
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7. MINISTERS HAMPERING OVERSEAS STUDENT RECRUITMENT, POLLY CURTIS (THE GUARDIAN, AUGUST 2ND 2005): University bosses today accused the government of hampering efforts to recruit overseas students to British institutions. Government plans to increase visa fees and overhaul the immigration system is putting students off applying to UK universities and depriving institutions of valuable overseas income, said UniversitiesUK, which represents vice-chancellors.
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8. SIGNS OF A THAW IN CHINA (INSIDE HIGHER ED, AUGUST 2ND 2005): The U.S. State Department has offered some indications that the chill that has limited foreign student enrollments in the United States may be easing. The number of Chinese students applying for visas to attend college in the United States in May and June rose by 15 percent over the comparable period last year, the department has announced.
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9. FOREIGN STUDENTS ORDERED OUT OF PAKISTAN MADRASSAS (THE GUARDIAN, JULY 29TH 2005): After reports that one of the London bombers studied at one, the Pakistani president ordered all foreign students in the country’s religious schools - the madrassas - to leave. Some 1,400 foreign students are now in the country under student visas, which become invalid once students leave the schools.
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10. FORMER U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER AND AMBASSADOR CITES CITIES’ SECURITY CHALLENGES, JOHN K. WILEY, ASSOCIATED PRESS (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCE, JULY 29TH 2005): At the Sister Cities International convention on Friday, former US House Speaker and US Ambassador to Japan Tom Foley praised the sister cities program, a nonprofit citizen diplomacy organization linking U.S. cities with those in other countries, for contributing to better understanding among people of different cultures.
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11. TEMPLES SIGN UP WITH CHINESE CULTURAL EXCHANGE GROUP (TAIPEI TIMES, JULY 31ST 2005): China’s Chunghua Matsu Cultural Exchange Association is attempting to recruit Taiwanese temples to join the association, according to a report in a local Chinese-language newspaper.  About 60 Matsu temples around the country are said to have been made members of the association’s board of directors, the report said.
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12. THE COSTA RICAN CONNECTION, MELODY FINNEMORE (THE OREGONIAN, AUGUST 2ND 2005): The Partners of the Americas program, an international exchange established in 1964 by President John F. Kennedy, is now a private, nonprofit organization that pairs U.S. states with Latin American and Caribbean countries. An Oregon chapter was founded in 1965 and has worked with Costa Ricans on a variety of projects, including cultural exchanges of students, teachers and retired professionals.
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13. TORRINGTON HAS A SIBLING CITY, KARSTEN STRAUSS (LITCHFIELD COUNTY TIMES, JULY 28TH 2005): Torrington Mayor Owen Quinn and Xu Ying, an official from the Chinese city of Changzhou signed a sister-city agreement Tuesday. The agreement will begin talks on how Torrington and the city of Changzhou can share knowledge of each other’s culture and promote business development on both sides, Mayor Quinn said.
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14. ARTISTIC FINALE TO SINO-FRENCH CULTURAL PROGRAM (XINHUA, AUGUST 1ST 2005): Leonardo da Vinci’s mysterious “Mona Lisa” is one of the works being displayed during “Midsummer France-Beijing,” a showcase for French art in the Chinese capital that began on Saturday and runs until September 19. The National Art Museum of China will host eight shows as the finale of the two-year Sino-French cultural exchange project.
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15. TSF TROUPE TAKES PRODUCTION TO CHINA, MEGAN MIDDLETON (JULY 27TH 2005): A group from the Texas Shakespeare Festival is embarking on a journey to China to perform “The Miracle Worker”. Raymond Caldwell, the founder and artistic director of the festival will also stay for a semester to teach in the English Department at Beijing University.
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16. MIDDLETOWN’S SISTER CITY HOSPITALITY, DAVE FROMER (LAKE COUNTY RECORD-BEE, JULY 26TH 2005): The community is gearing up to welcome a delegation from their sister city of Naka-Cho, Hyogo, Japan, which will arrive Wednesday for a week-long visit to Lake County. This is the ninth year that Middletown Middle School and Naka-Cho Middle School have participated in an educational exchange program in which a delegation of students and teachers visit each other’s country on alternating years.
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17. FOUR SOUTH CAROLINA TEENS GET A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE , CZERNE M. REID (THE STATE, JULY 28TH 2005): Three students from Midlands and one from Upstate will visit Germany under the Congress-Bundestag youth-exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Congress and the German parliament.  Under the exchange program, 250 American high school students receive one-year scholarships to travel to Germany, and 250 German students get to spend a year in the United States.
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18. WORK AND TRAVEL (THE MALAYSIAN STAR, JULY 31ST 2005): Authorized by the Council of International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the Work and Travel program was first introduced in Southeast Asia in the late 90’s.  In 2001, Singapore sent its maiden batch of 30 students on the program, and the numbers have since grown by leaps and bounds.
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19. STRICTER GUIDELINES ON CHINESE STUDENTS VISAS (THE TIMES OF MALTA JULY 28TH 2005): The processing of visa applications from Chinese English-language students is to come under more rigorous guidelines in Malta.  The move follows the drowning of six Chinese and Mongolian illegal immigrants off the coast of Sicily in Easter, which had fuelled suspicions that Chinese people were obtaining visas to study English here with the sole intention of using the island as a springboard to Europe.
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20. DETENTION FOR VISA OFFENSES, DOROTHY ILLING (THE AUSTRALIAN, AUGUST 3RD 2005): Foreign students who breach their visa conditions while studying in Australia risk being placed in one of the nation’s detention centers. They are more likely to have their visas cancelled and to have to pay a $10,000 bond, but a small number are landing in detention centers.
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