| This study provides a historic perspective on CIEE: Council on International Educational Exchange and explores its role in international education development. The author used a qualitative case study and historical methodology to research CIEE history over five and a half decades. The study highlights the best practices in CIEE study abroad and articulates other forms of international cooperation that enhance international knowledge and cross-cultural competence in the U.S. and globally.; CIEE history goes back to the period after WWII when, in 1947, a number of educational organizations and agencies interested in study abroad joined their efforts to launch the first Student Ship Program. Over fifty-five years, CIEE has proven its commitment to international education by promoting study abroad and exchanges all over the world. CIEE became the largest non-profit organization in the U.S. in this field. Nowadays, it consists of approximately 500 staff in 30 countries, 274 member institutions and 183 Academic Consortium members and voting representatives.; The researcher used three main methods of data collection and analysis to support the findings of this case study: site visits, analysis of primary sources, and secondary data analysis. The researcher conducted site visits in CIEE offices in New York and Boston during summer 2001. Primary sources included 127 CIEE archival documents which were collected and analyzed. Twenty archival taped interviews with former CIEE senior managers were analyzed as secondary data analysis.; The following six themes emerged from the data analysis: (1) International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) as strategic actors for development, (2) CIEE and public diplomacy, (3) Professional dimension in international education, (4) CIEE and internationalization of higher education, (5) CIEE and globalization, (6) U.S. foreign policy, world events and international education development.; In addition, this study contributes to the body of literature on the history of INGOs and their role in international educational development as a third party provider. This study also contributes to the literature on the third sector focused on international program development through exchanges; it continues a discourse around public diplomacy and the role of exchanges in enhancing U.S. foreign policy and complimenting traditional diplomacy. |
