Project ASPIRE [APEC student professional integration and reentry] : final program/financial report -- IA-ASMA-G3190142

ASPIRE has developed an extensive program involving U.S. campus-based international education professionals, multinational businesses, and government representatives from the students" home countries to facilitate the personal and professional reintegration of the students into their home countries and economies once they have finished their U.S. studies. The program has reached more than 40,000 students enrolled at more than 900 U.S. colleges and universities. The outreach program operates out of three U.S.-based regional centers, and has encompassed the award of 34 incentive grants to individual institutions, production of a tri-annual newsletter, and electronic outreach, including a listserve, a World Wide Web home page, national video and telephone conferences, job fairs, and a student recruitment database. In 1995, ASPIRE"s outreach to South Pacific Island students ceased while the number of ASEAN students reached by ASPIRE climbed to approximately 45,000. ASPIRE has been sustained beyond the 9/96 termination of USAID funding through private sector support and foundation awards. This ongoing program closely resembles the one created in 1991, with enhancement in parts of the outreach package and recruitment services, which are being sold to sustain the program, and the extension of services to students from China, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei.