UF president to promote higher education on trip to Asian countries

November 8, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida President Bernie Machen will join U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and other national leaders in higher education on a trip to Japan, Korea and China, starting Friday.

The delegation will meet with students and university leaders, government and business leaders and the media to communicate the message that the U.S. welcomes and values international students who want to study in the United States.

“This is a new opportunity to expand the international reputation of UF as an institution that embraces a global perspective on education,” Machen said.

The weeklong trip, which coincides with International Education Week, follows from a commitment made at the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education co-hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Spellings in January 2006. The State Department is organizing high-level delegations of college and university presidents, each led by a senior government official, to key regions of the world to promote U.S. higher education and to talk about the importance of international education.

This Asian trip’s delegation includes Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell and the presidents or leaders of 11 other universities, including Johns Hopkins, Ohio State, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

UF enrolls students from more than 100 foreign countries and maintains offices in Paris and Beijing.