Posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 6:08 pm

On January 19^th 2011, the U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama gave a speech at Howard University. During the speech she mentioned the importance of studying abroad, which coincided with the Chinese President Hu Jintao visit to the United States.

To show the need for strong ties between China and the United States, during the speech she talked about the “100,000 Strong Initiative”. The 100,000 strong initiative is supported by the U.S. government and was launched back in 2009 to encourage a greater diversity and the number of Students from the United States to study abroad in China.

With growing interest in China, more and more people are going to study abroad there. Between 2001-2007, the number of Americans studying in China grew by 30 percent and is expected to continue to grow into the future. It’s becoming more and more accessible for students to go study abroad in China and new scholarships are emerging to help students finance their trip. The Chinese government is also offering 10,000 scholarships for US students studying in China.

After Mrs. Obama’s speech, a four student lead panel discussed and shared their experiences on studying abroad. This included two recipients of the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. This program is design to provide scholarship opportunities for U.S. undergraduate students who want to study abroad. This year the program awarded over 2,300 scholarships with the average award being about $4,000. If you are studying a critical need language like Chinese you are then eligible to receive an additional $3,000 award.

Many other international scholarships are also available, as well as opportunities to study in China and around the world.

Posted by ahoontrakul

Originally from Thailand, Apinant grew up in the United States and has extensive international experience traveling throughout Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. He has lived, studied and worked abroad in China, England, Taiwan and Thailand. Apinant is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Masters in International Business and a Bachelors of Science in Business Management.