- Community and faith-based leaders from around the world came together to share insights on how interfaith relations can encourage peace and mutual understanding at the International Forum on Religion and Peace in Batumi, Georgia. Social Inclusivity in Georgia With the country's history of ethnic conflict in the 1990s, Georgia was a meaningful place to hold the Forum. While ethnic Georgians make up around 84 percent of the population, there are large minority Armenian (5 percent) and… Read More
- "I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Sona exhaled, as she read aloud that final passage of Robert Frost's famous poem The Road Not Taken. Her nerves started to relax as she realized she had just recited an entire poem in a completely foreign language. Like most Armenian teenagers, reciting works of poetry isn't an everyday activity for Sona but here… Read More
- America's Lacking Language SkillsThe Atlantic Just seven percent of American college students are enrolled in a language course and 95 percent of these enrollments are in European languages like French or German, despite an increasing demand for fluency in non-Western languages. Through alarming statistics and anecdotal evidence, journalist Amelia Friedman describes the current state of decay of language education in the United States. Why Global Competence Matters: It's Not Really a Small… Read More
- A representative from nearly every generation of the American-Serbian and Montenegrin Youth Leadership Exchange program (A-SMYLE) recently gathered to mark a decade of an alumni network that continues to grow and focus on serving their communities. United by the experience of living with a host family, attending high school, and developing leadership skills in the US, the group of 24 friends and colleagues spent a weekend volunteering at a local history museum in Sirogojno, Serbia and… Read More
- Stray dogs are a common sight in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The large number of dogs without homes makes it particularly difficult for the local government to provide shelter for all, with estimates putting the stray dog population close to 11,000.American high school students living in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the YES Abroad high school exchange year joined forces with young Bosnians from the YES alumni network to raise money for a local dog shelter in… Read More
- After hiring three international exchange alumni in less than a year, Djordje Petkovic, CEO of Peaksel, a Serbian app development company, wrote a letter to American Councils expressing his unwavering support for the continuation of the A-SMYLE program and international exchange programs for young Serbians.April 20th, 2015Dear American Councils,My name is Djordje Petkovic. I am the CEO of a mobile games and apps development company Peaksel D.O.O. in Nis, Serbia. I am writing this letter in… Read More
- A trash-strewn public playground gets a makeover. A museum expands the reach of its artwork online by installing an Internet connection. A historical site gains a sewage system. These aren't random instances of good fortune, but collective acts of goodwill conducted by a group of young Ukrainian adults wearing bright yellow t-shirts. The group's yellow t-shirts read "Help and Travel," an organization with a bold vision: HELP build a network of community-minded individuals to encourage social… Read More
- To celebrate American Councils' 40th anniversary and recognize its team for their committed work throughout the decades, AC Moldova is launching a management and leadership online course to give their employees new opportunities for professional development in international education. The most experienced program managers have volunteered to help more junior staff members develop their professional capabilities. Each training session will be built around one successful project run by… Read More
- Corruption in higher education casts a shadow on many countries that are working towards more modern and progressive political and economic systems. While this is slowly changing, Ukraine has been no exception. With the introduction of a new higher education law in September 2014, reforming the education system in Ukraine has been a key priority for its government. As part of this focus, American Councils is carrying out the Reforming Ukraine's Higher Education System Project (RUHESP), a 10-… Read More
- By Carter Johnson, American Councils Regional Director for Russia and Moldova How it Began In fall 2013, as the new co-chairs of the US-Russia Higher Education Working Group, Irina Arzhanova and I met at the National Training Foundation in Moscow to identify the greatest challenges facing US-Russia cooperation in higher education. Our goal was to select a central challenge and create a project that could address it with tangible and lasting results. By the end of the meeting, we agreed… Read More
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