ED’s international bilateral relationships are important to education diplomacy and the process of building mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationships between countries in the education arena.
AUSTRALIA – ED engages with Australian counterparts to exchange information on education reform, including through regularly held virtual policy dialogues. Key topics have included equity, teacher quality, early learning, and higher education.
BRAZIL – ED’s activities with Brazilian counterparts include policy dialogues, as well as efforts to promote increased academic exchange. Key areas of collaboration include promoting equal opportunity in education and a special initiative to increase exchanges between Brazilian universities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States.
INDIA – The educational partnership with India is being strengthened under the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative. ED participated in the Higher Education Dialogue (HED), helping to advance cooperation on higher education between the two countries. During the 2013 HED in New Delhi, ED led the dialogue on community colleges and how to leverage technology and innovation in order to increase access to high quality education.
INDONESIA – The U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership includes ED’s participation in a 2011 U.S.-Indonesia Higher Education Summit. Indonesia was a participant in the 2012 and 2013 International Summits on the Teaching Profession.
JAPAN – Japan has been an active participant in the International Summit on the Teaching Profession, taking a leadership role as discussion starter in the 2012 and 2013 summits. In addition, ED participates in U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) meetings. CULCON is a binational advisory panel that serves to strengthen U.S.-Japan cultural and educational ties.
MEXICO – ED engages Mexican counterparts on a regular basis to promote policy dialogue and cooperation in various areas, in particular migrant education and higher education. The Department is also a participant in the Bilateral Forum for Higher Education, Innovation, and Research and works with State Department to promote the 100,000 Strong in the Americas academic exchange initiative.
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA – ED has had a formal bilateral relationship with the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) since 2000. Included in ED’s work with the MOE is the development of a web-based language learning program for school-aged students and experts meetings to advance and improve science education and career and technical education. In 2013 the U.S.-China State Provincial Leaders Dialogue focused on improving teacher quality and turning around low-performing schools.
SINGAPORE – ED and the Singaporean Ministry of Education have been collaborating on mutually beneficial education issues since 2002; in particular, the two countries have worked closely on improving math education in the U.S. Singapore participated actively as discussion starter in both the 2011 and 2012 International Summits on the Teaching Profession.