Americans Promoting Study Abroad

While the number of Chinese students studying in America each year gets a lot of play (it's now around 200,000, recently passing India as the most from any country), an even more incredible number is how many American students study in China each year: about 17,000 in 2013. This "education gap" is appalling and potentially very dangerous, as America and China's future together is interwoven and will be based on the quality and depth of understanding that each side has for the other. Right now, on a person-to-person basis, China is doing a good job building up a critical mass of worldly young people. America, for various reasons, needs to keep up. That is why it's so exciting to be involved with APSA, an organization promoting study abroad opportunities for at-risk American students who otherwise couldn't dream about an experience living and studying in China. In association with President Obama's 100,000 Strong Initiative to increase the number and diversity of Americans studying in China to 100,000 total during his time in office, APSA is doing incredible work identifying and providing exciting study and professional experiences for talented young people who will go on to become the next generation of ambassadors promoting partnership and understanding between our two countries.

Just last week, Jeffrey Wood, an APSA Scholar who participated in APSA's flagship Summer Scholars 10-week immersion program (we have 90 kids this summer, up from 50 last summer), had the chance to interview First Lady Michelle Obama, who was passing through Beijing with her mother and daughters. Jeffrey, who is now enrolled at George Mason University, is currently studying abroad here. Not a bad way to spend your time away from studying Mandarin, eh?!?