Following the Lincoln Commission report on America’s competitiveness, the IIE announced a new policy research initiative committed to increasing the number and diversity of American students studying abroad. Through its extensive networks in US higher education and internationally, IIE will consult with key groups of US educators and study abroad administrators, as well as international partner organisations and universities, in order to examine the capacity to send and host a greatly increased number of US students abroad. 

In this line, IIE has started collaboration with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) built in Saudi Arabia to send students abroad. KAUST will grant the discovery scholarship to highly talented students currently in their last or second-to-last year of first-level, bachelors or undergraduate degree study, at public and private universities. The scholarship benefits will include full tuition, monthly living stipend, and travel costs.

Furthermore, the US House of Representatives approved the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007. If passed by the Senate, the bill would authorise 58 million Euro per year to administer a new programme designed to dramatically increase the number of U.S. students abroad.