Dear Colleague, 

Regardless of who wins the US election in November, there will be a change of Administrations. This will be the 9th since 2000. Even Presidents who are elected for a second term replace the political appointees with whom we work at the Departments of State and Defense. Most come in with mandates to start new programs or to change existing ones. We advise and encourage them, ask them to speak at our board meetings and dinners to help understand better their aims.  

The senior civil service officials in both departments change much less often. This has happened on my watch only once at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and twice at the Department of Defense. For the next 12 months, our daily interactions in both departments will likely be with people we know well and have attended G7-plus meetings where they have met many of you. 

A new Congress will be sworn in on the 3rd of January and it will take the rest of the month for committee roles and appointments to be decided. The President's FY26 Budget will be submitted sometime between 15 February and early March. Then the Appropriations Sub-Committees in both houses will go to work on the FY2026 budget which should be passed in both Houses by 1 October. Since this rarely happens, the levels of spending and programs in place for the previous year are maintained through a Continuing Resolution for varying periods of time until a budget is agreed. 

Between mid-March and the end of April, we will visit nearly all the members of the Appropriations committees on behalf of the Fulbright, Gilman, and Scholar Rescue programs funded by State Department and the critical programs funded by DoD which we have the privilege to administer. All these Programs have strong bipartisan support.

Ok. So who’s going to win on the 5th of November? 

As has been true in recent years, the closer we get to the first Tuesday in November (the day specified in the US Constitution (as amended), the closer nearly all polls indicate the race for the White House appears to become. And when you consider that most polls have a 4-5 percent margin of error, there comes a time when polls make weekly headlines but in fact tell us less and less. In many states early voting is permitted and now underway. This means people have made up their minds a few weeks ago (or earlier) and these voters usually do not participate in polls. 

Now about the candidates and their views on international education and exchanges. Two candidates ran last time saying they were in favor of essentially stapling a "green card” work visas to all diplomas awarded to Masters and PHD graduates in STEM fields. Donald Trump has repeated that proposal again this year and he is the only US President who signed a "welcome to the US and glad you are here" letter to every Fulbright student and scholar in the first month of his term. Kamala Harris has not commented on specific exchange matters or programs but she is the first candidate for President who was born to parents who came to the United States as foreign students. She and her sister were born here and by virtue of birthright are American citizens. Their parents became US citizens.   

The secretaries of State and Education in both the Trump and Biden administrations strongly endorsed the US commitment to international education and exchanges in many speeches and especially during the annual International Education Week when IIE issues the new "Open Doors" report on international student mobility. This year's report will become available on the 18th of November as IEW commences and marks the 75th year it has been issued.  

Will we know the election results by then?  It has not always been the case that we know them within a few hours of when the last polls close in our West Coast states. In years when there are no challenges or allegations of widespread fraud, those of us living in New York and Washington who stay up late can have a pretty good idea by 2 in the morning on Wednesday. CNN and Fox News, followed by the national broadcast networks generally start predicting outcomes state-by-state on the East Coast when their polls officially at 8pm. Each election year, the news networks are more cautious about projecting winners. And each candidate can contest the outcome state-by-state and demand a recount. Our laws in many states have changed related to how this is to be done and who has the authority to declare the vote count valid so it could also be a busy few weeks for our Supreme Court.   

I am planning to stay up late and am prepared for days of uncertainty thereafter.  

Allan E. Goodman   
Chief Executive Officer 
Institute of International Education 

P.S. IIE’s latest Annual Report can be accessed here.  It provides a look at how we are leveraging the power of international education for communities around the world — from responding to global educational crises to providing students, artists and scholars life-changing opportunities through the 200+ programs we administer.  Do let me know if you would like to learn more.