Academy for Educational Development

The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) seeks to build mutual understanding between the United States and other nations through carefully designed professional visits to the United States for current and emerging foreign leaders. The Office of International Visitors, within the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, manages and funds the IVLP, which was launched in 1940. AED has developed and managed IVLP study visits since 1979. Each year, IVLP participants from all over the world are selected by U.S. embassies to travel to the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts. Through these encounters, they gain a greater understanding of the cultural and political influences in U.S. society and enjoy a firsthand experience of the U.S., its people and its culture. Almost 300 current and former heads of government and state and many other distinguished world leaders in the public and private sectors have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program