Publications
AIFS has created and collaborated on many publications over the years. Our publications include helpful study abroad guides for parents and students, career development guides, reports on education and economic outlooks across world regions, diversity in international education, developing strategic international partnerships and global educational mobility.
A Family Guide to Study Abroad
All families are unique, but the importance and value of family support for students seeking to study abroad is shared. With A Family Guide to Study Abroad, the AIFS Foundation and IIE provide valuable guidance on understanding the impact of and options for study abroad while updating information and tips to empower today’s students and their families to succeed. The guide speaks directly to families and provides helpful tips on topics like picking the right program, creating a budget, and staying safe when abroad. A Family Guide to Study Abroad is available in English and Spanish with print and digital versions to best fit your needs.
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Supporting First-Generation Students to Study Abroad
IIE’s latest research publication, Supporting First-Generation Students to Study Abroad, describes the landscape of study abroad programming designed for first-generation college students and provides an overview of considerations for access to study abroad and relevant outcomes.
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Mental Health and Well-Being in International Education: Reflections on Providing Support for Students and Administrators
The COVID-19 pandemic brought mental health concerns to the forefront on university campuses worldwide. In the United States, institutions and organizations recognize that all aspects of the international education cycle have been and continue to be affected by mental health challenges. From international students to their host institutions and families to advisors supporting students, mental health support services for international students remain a top priority. Organizations such as IIE and AIFS provide examples of how staff is trained to provide mental health support to individuals in need and collaborate with university faculty and staff to support international students on their education journey.
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The Rise of Remote Global Internships: Promising Practices and the Implications for Career Readiness
This paper provides insight into the role of remote global internships in providing experiential educational opportunities for university students and the potential role these internships have in developing students’ skills acquisition, global citizenship, and career readiness.
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Broadening Opportunities for Study Abroad: U.S. Government Funded Scholarship Programs
This paper explores U.S. government scholarship opportunities available to U.S. students interested in an international experience, highlighting different sponsoring agencies. It analyzes how the scholarships support U.S. government programming goals of encouraging citizen diplomacy, strengthening national security, and building a globalized workforce.
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Studying for the Future: International Secondary Students in the United States
This paper provides an overview of international secondary student enrollment trends in the United States. It describes a case study of the AIFS Foundation’s Academic Year in America (AYA) high school exchange student program. The case study highlights the results of an alumni survey, including motivations for participating, skills and attributes gained while on the program, and academic and professional trajectories post-program, as well as discusses possible implications for higher education.
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AIFS Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad
AIFS has established an assessment process that aligns with the Forum on Education Abroad’s Standards of Good Practice. Beginning with the AIFS Mission and Vision Statements, our assessment process is ongoing and transparent. Its aim is continuous review and quality improvement; student learning outcomes are at the center.
AIFS Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad
Faculty and Education Abroad: The Role of Faculty in Promoting Global Learning on U.S. Campuses
In our increasingly interconnected world, institutions face pressure to both grow their global footprint and prepare students to succeed in the global economy after graduation. Faculty are at the heart of the academic enterprise, and as such, it is no surprise that they also have a role to play in ensuring that education abroad opportunities are robust, dynamic, and accessible. This white paper from IIE and the AIFS Foundation investigates the link between faculty and education abroad—and specific examples of institutions that have made considerable progress in expanding access to global learning and education abroad opportunities on campus— to shed light on opportunities and challenges that faculty face when engaging with education abroad, both as campus champions and leaders.
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AIFS Study Abroad Outcomes Volume II (2018)
Revisiting and expanding on our 2010 offering, this publication is a longitudinal study of personal, intercultural and career development based on a survey of AIFS alumni from 1990 to 2017.
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Study Abroad Matters: Linking Higher Education to the Contemporary Workforce through International Experience
In today’s competitive economy, it takes more than a college degree to convince employers that graduates are ready for the workforce. This paper, from IIE and the AIFS Foundation, synthesizes leading-edge research to demonstrate that in this globalized era, study abroad has become one of the most powerful ways to prove to employers that graduates have in-demand skills for the contemporary workplace. This paper outlines best practices for high education institutions, industry, and graduates to better articulate the value of study abroad for the contemporary marketplace.
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A Parent Guide to Study Abroad
Studying abroad equips students with real-life, hands-on skills that no classroom can match, while opening up a world of personal and professional opportunities. This book, co-authored by international careers expert Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, International Institute of Education (IIE) President Allan Goodman, and AIFS Chairman William L. Gertz, contains critical information parents will need to inform themselves, as well as support their high school or college student as they navigate the study abroad experience. Full of practical information written specifically for parents, the authors make a strong case for the importance of parental involvement that can influence and shape a successful cross-cultural experience.
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Campus Best Practices: Supporting Education Abroad & Student Career Development
Written by Martin Tillman, this publication provides advisors in study abroad offices and their partners in career services with a practical guide to selected advising models and best program practices currently in place on a variety of campuses across the country. It showcases a continuum of campus models that reflect the diversity of advising practices in the U.S. including a sample of courses taught with the goal of providing students greater structure as they consider the career impact of their international education. To submit a best practice model/document for inclusion on the AIFS website or to share feedback, please email AIFSAbroad@aifs.com.
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Student Guide to Study Abroad
Studying abroad offers students competitive advantage and cross-cultural competence that open up a world of career opportunities, say three leading experts in study abroad. Highlighting the impact of globalization, international careers expert Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, IIE president Allan Goodman, and AIFS founder Sir Cyril Taylor make a compelling case for why global experience matters in today’s job market. Their comprehensive and practical guide, published by the Institute of International Education and the American Institute For Foreign Study Foundation, is equally useful for students, parents, educators, career counselors and study abroad advisers.
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Sir Cyril: My Life as a Social Entrepreneur
The autobiography of Sir Cyril Taylor, AIFS Founder and Chairman. Sir Cyril reflects on his life and accomplishments during his long and distinguished career in education and public service in the U.S. and U.K.
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AIFS Study Abroad Outcomes: A View from Our Alumni 1990-2010
This publication compiles and examines the results of the AIFS Outcomes Survey, a study we conducted of our study abroad alumni from the last two decades. This report describes and analyzes how alumni regard the impact of their study abroad experience on their personal and professional lives and documents program participation trends between 1990 and 2010. It also examines international education trends and ways in which to prepare students for the global marketplace.
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AIFS Student Guide to Study Abroad and Career Development
The goal of this Guide, written by Martin Tillman, is to provide students with a framework to understand the impact and added value of study abroad for their career development. Regardless of duration or destination, we believe students will benefit from considering the career implications of their decision to study abroad.
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Diversity in International Education Summary Report
In September 2010, AIFS and Diversity Abroad sponsored a workshop held in Washington, D.C., for the purpose of creating initiatives to increase minority participation in study abroad. Over 100 study abroad leaders from colleges, universities, and national organizations attended this event. The Summary Report from this workshop details the reflections and recommendations of the participants for increasing diversity in study abroad.
Read moreIIE and AIFS Foundation Research Reports
IIE and the AIFS Foundation have teamed up to create a series of Global Education Research Reports. Forwards are written by Dr. Alan Goodman, President of IIE, and William L. Gertz, President and CEO of AIFS.
Asia: The Next Higher Education Superpower? (2015)
Ninth in the Global Education Research Reports series, published by IIE and the AIFS Foundation, Asia: The Next Higher Education Superpower? critically examines the local and global trends driving higher education policies in Asia and their impact on the local and regional knowledge economies. Featuring an impressive group of leading scholars, practitioners, and education policy experts these chapters look at how governments, universities, the private sector, and international organizations are responding to recent trends and meeting the diverse challenges and opportunities across the region. This volume is edited by Rajika Bhandari, IIE’s Deputy Vice President for Research and Evaluation, and Alessia Lefébure, Director of the Alliance at Columbia University and Adjunct Professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Women In the Global Economy: Leading Social Change
The eighth report in the series, Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change explores the landscape of women’s participation in the economy and the key role that women play in fueling economic growth by creating stable societies. The book notes the trajectory of transformation that has gained a foothold in recent years, where investing in women is increasingly seen as a driver for social and economical development. The report also calls attention to significant challenges that continue to present themselves in the form of discriminatory laws, regulations and business conditions, along with women’s lack of property rights.
Latin America’s New Knowledge Economy
The last few decades have been a time of impressive growth and change for higher education in Latin America. Latin America’s New Knowledge Economy, the seventh in a series of Global Education Research Reports published by IIE and the AIFS Foundation, reviews the policies, institutions, and programs that helped bring about these changes, as well as their outcomes in terms of access, workforce training, and research. Key issues discussed include: higher education’s role in advanced workforce development; trends in academic mobility and outcomes for brain circulation; government-sponsored study-abroad scholarship programs; investment in the region by U.S. universities and corporations; policy responses to challenges of access and equity; and U.S. government exchange programs with Latin America.
Developing Strategic International Partnerships
In the sixth report in the series, Developing Strategic International Partnerships: Models for Initiating and Sustaining Innovative Institutional Linkages, experts and practitioners from a wide range of higher education institutions and organizations capture the current dynamism and broadened scope of international academic partnerships. This book compiles a panorama of mutually beneficial partnership programs from across the globe, and features recommendations, models, and strategies for initiating, managing, and sustaining a range of international linkages. It also illustrates the myriad ways in which international partnerships enhance, and even transform, the institutions that participate in them, aiding in long-term goals of campus internationalization and preparing students for entry into the global workforce.
Who Goes Where and Why? An Overview and Analysis of Global Educational Mobility
In the fifth report in the series, the authors describe and analyze current information on how and why students choose their study abroad destinations and how national policies impact students’ decisions. It provides a thorough analysis of the Exchange Visitor Program in the U.S. and offers a comprehensive overview of the complexity of student mobility worldwide.
Innovation through Education: Building the Knowledge Economy in the Middle East
In the fourth report of the series, Innovation through Education: Building the Knowledge Economy in the Middle East, authors from a wide range of institutions and organizations describe and analyze current innovations, trends, and issues that countries and institutions in the Middle East are facing as they move toward educational reform and devekopment, as well as exchange projects between Middle Eastern countries and the United States. The reportincludes discussions of institutional planning in the region, women’s education, youth exchange, and Arabic language education, and offers a contemporary and erudite examination of global education in building the knowledge economy in the Middle East.
International India: A Turning Point in Educational Exchange with the U.S.
The third report in the series, International India: A Turning Point in Educational Exchange with the U.S., is the only comprehensive volume in recent years to focus on U.S.-India higher education exchanges at a crucial juncture in this important relationship. In this report, Indian and American authors address wide-ranging topics including the process of internationalization and higher education policy debates within India, U.S. government and institutional strategies to improve Indo-U.S. higher education linkages, the growing study abroad relationship between the two countries, and the relationship between higher education, entrepreneurship and the success of the Indian diaspora in the U.S.
Higher Education on the Move: New Developments in Global Mobility
The second report in the series, Higher Education on the Move: New Developments in Global Mobility, explores the effects of recent developments in higher education, the world economy, and government policy on global student and scholar mobility. Authors ask how these processes affect the most commonly discussed aspect of international education — the movement of students and scholars across national borders.
U.S.-China Educational Exchange: Perspectives on a Growing Partnership
IIE and the AIFS Foundation have teamed up to create a series of Global Education Research Reports. The first report in this new series, U.S.-China Educational Exchange: Perspectives on a Growing Partnership, focuses on educational exchange between the United States and China from multiple perspectives. It seeks to expand the range of information on U.S.-China academic exchange available to study abroad policymakers and practitioners.