The Forum on Education Abroad Launches Field-Wide Campaign, Education Abroad: The Career Catalyst

6/26/2025

Education abroad transforms not just individual career outcomes, but economies for entire communities and industries. It has been linked to greater attractiveness in candidate pools and positive effects on early-career wages. And with more than 41 million jobs in the U.S. dependent on international trade, a globally competent workforce is more important than ever.

Yet the education abroad field faces challenges, including funding uncertainty, U.S. national policy changes, and increased restrictions on global movement that threaten the ability of students to access these career-defining opportunities.

That’s why The Forum on Education Abroad is stepping up to lead a field-wide campaign showcasing the power of education abroad to drive economic and career success. “Education Abroad: The Career Catalyst” will center student and alumni voices and data-driven outcomes to demonstrate the value of education abroad. The campaign’s goal is to ensure these transformative opportunities are recognized, protected, and expanded so that future generations can experience the potent impacts of education abroad.

Key Campaign Initiatives
To help build an evidence-based message about how international education experiences shape career paths and contribute to economic mobility, The Forum today launched a field-wide alumni survey that is open to anyone who has ever studied, interned, or researched abroad. The survey will remain open through Thursday, July 31, and results will be shared in September 2025.

In addition to research into career outcomes, first-person perspectives will drive the campaign. To help students and recent alumni amplify their stories, The Forum is offering free virtual op-ed writing workshops that will offer advice on crafting, editing, and pitching compelling, public-facing pieces about the impact of education abroad.

These two-part workshops will give participants effective tips from seasoned marketing and communications professionals, and they will include opportunities for op-ed drafts to be reviewed by a peer. Registration is open, with opportunities starting Monday, June 30.

Field-Wide Support
The campaign is bringing together the education abroad community in an unprecedented way to collectively advocate for the importance of education abroad in strengthening careers and economies. By working together with a singular message, education abroad professionals, institutions, and organizations can more effectively protect and advance the future of education abroad.

The Forum has published a messaging guide to assist the field in coalescing around key themes and data points. The field-wide alumni survey will also offer broad evidence and data that will benefit all in the education abroad community.

“It’s time to marshal all of the talent in our field behind a unified message: Education abroad drives positive career and economic outcomes,” said Melissa Torres, President & CEO of The Forum on Education Abroad. “With so much at stake for the future of our field, we must accelerate and amplify our efforts to underscore this message at every turn and ensure policymakers, leaders, and families understand how powerful these experiences truly are for individual career success and local economies. The support this campaign has generated so far has been inspiring, and I know that with the backing of our field, we can promote the impacts of education abroad in a way that has never before been achieved.”

The campaign is made possible through the generosity of its founding supporters: API Foundation, CEA CAPA, IES Abroad, ISEP Study Abroad, University Studies Abroad Consortium (USAC), WorldStrides Higher Education, Arizona State University Global Education, CIS Abroad, and Tennessee Consortium for International Studies.

Get Involved
Education abroad supporters can contribute to the campaign’s success through a number of ways:

Take the alumni survey, and share it with alumni networks, colleagues, friends, and peers in the field. A social media toolkit is available to help you spread the word.
Share support on social media using #WorldWiseWorkReady.
Invite students and alumni to register for our free op-ed workshops, starting June 30, so they can effectively share their stories in media outlets.
Contribute stories of alumni success to help us demonstrate the real-world impact of education abroad.
Offer financial support to extend the campaign’s reach even further.

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