Spotlight the importance of foreign exchange student program
I felt that [the foreign exchange student program] shouldn't be a one-way street. Americans are notoriously monolingual and, frankly, a bit provincial. I've long been an advocate of study-abroad programs. Education Secretary
Margaret Spellings and I teamed up to spotlight the importance of student exchanges, holding the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education in 2006.
One great strength of the American higher education system is its diversity, so we invited leaders from community colleges, liberal arts schools, and private and public research universities. Margaret would visit countries in
South America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia with several university presidents to further emphasize the importance of the issue.
