The recent Lincoln Commission report has pointed out how critical it is to America’s competitiveness and national security to provide more students with international experience, and lays out the ambitious goal of sending 1 million students abroad each year by the year 2017. Last month, ACA reported on a bill entered into Congress that would tackle these goals. In hopes of supporting future legislation,  IIE President Allan Goodman announced a new policy research initiative to provide policy makers and practitioners with substantive data and recommendations on how to achieve those numbers, diversify the destinations to which students go, and substantially expand the capacity of host institutions who receive them. Through its extensive networks in US higher education and internationally, IIE will consult key groups of US educators and study abroad administrators, as well as international partner organisations and universities, to examine the capacity to send and host a greatly increased number of US students abroad.  IIE will conduct focused leadership dialogues and surveys of key groups, review previously identified barriers, assess existing constraints on expansion, and issue recommendations on steps needed at each level to meet the challenges and overcome constraints while also ensuring the high quality of the study abroad experience. IIE Network