A Word of Welcome

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to the website for the research conference on Global Challenges and U.S. higher Education that was held 23-25 January 2003, here in Durham. Duke University was pleased to host this conference on behalf the Coalition for International Education, a group of 28 organizations that share a common recognition of the importance of international education to the United States. Some three hundred educators and international education specialists from across the nation attended. Support for the conference was provided by the Ford Foundation, the Office of International Education and Graduate Programs Service of the U.S. Department of Education, and Duke University.

This conference was stimulated by the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in 2003-2004. The purpose of the conference was not to consider specific legislative recommendations, but to evaluate the current and future national needs for international and foreign language competence and to assess the nation’s ability to meet those needs. Similar conferences were held at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh before the previous two reauthorizations of the Higher Education Act. Both events proved highly useful in framing the reconsideration by the Administration and the U.S. Congress of international education issues in the HEA legislation.

The Duke conference was organized around discussions of 15 commissioned papers that addressed specific national needs and educational system issues. The conference also featured addresses by Eugene Hickok, Under Secretary of Education; David Ward, President of the American Council on Education; G. Richard Wagoner, President and Chairman of General Motors; Admiral Bobby Inman, LBJ Centennial Chair at the LBJ School of Public Policy, University of Texas; and Nannerl Keohane, President, Duke University.

The proceedings are posted on this web site and will be published as soon as possible to help inform future international education policy.

Sincerely,
	Gilbert W. Merkx Vice Provost for International Affairs and Development Director, Center for International Studies Duke University http://provost.duke.edu/merkx.htm