Message to the Congress Transmitting Annual Report on the International Educational and Cultural Exchange Program.

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith the annual report on the international educational and cultural exchange program conducted during Fiscal Year 1970 by the Department of State under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 (Public Law 7-256, the Fulbright-Hays Act). In the 1970 Fiscal Year, this program provided 4,638 outstanding scholars and leaders in the professions, the arts and public life with intensive exchange experiences which linked the United States with 123 other countries and territories.

The major part of this report is devoted to a review of a little known but increasingly important aspect of this program, the complex of activities designed to provide foreign students with broader opportunities to participate in the life of this country. Such activities mean that students who seek training in the United States are afforded not only the best possible educational experience but also a better chance to become acquainted with our people, our customs and our institutions. These efforts are directed to foreign students who come here without Government sponsorship, as well as to that group--about 5% of the total--who receive United States financial support.

In common with many other countries, the United States now has a large number of students who come from foreign countries-well over 135,000--although they constitute a far smaller percentage of the total student population than they do in major European universities.

These students present the United States with an exceptional opportunity. Not only do they enrich the international dimension of education for American students, but they also provide outstanding talent for our research and teaching programs. Moreover, many among them will become tomorrow's leaders in many fields in their home countries.

The professional and personal ties which these students form while they are studying here and the insights they gain into our way of life will help shape their future perceptions of America. Their experience here today can have a major impact on the quality of communication between their societies and ours tomorrow. Public and private programs which enhance the experiences of these potential leaders can do a great deal to build the human foundations for a more peaceful world.

I commend this report to the thoughtful attention of the Congress.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

August 5, 1971