International Visitor Leadership Program

The International Visitor Leadership Program is sponsored at the national level by the U. S. Department of State and is available in 44 states. The San Francisco program is one of the largest and most popular, and each year the Institute of International Education/West Coast hosts over 800 distinguished leaders identified and selected by the U.S. State Department and U.S. embassies around the world. The visitors represent varied social, economic, cultural and professional aspects of their societies and are chosen because of their achievements. The visitors come from government, business, medicine, media, education, the arts, science, labor relations and other key fields and meet with their American counterparts in a wide range of areas including:

Governance and Law
Public Health
Arts and Culture
Economic Reform and Development
Science and Technology
Women's Empowerment
Media
Environment
Education

In these peer exchanges they have the opportunity to obtain firsthand knowledge about the United States, its people, policies, and culture and to establish lasting professional relationships and learn about the intellectual and economic status of other countries.

The prestigious alumni of the IVLP include:

• President Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan
• Prime Minister Tony Blair, Great Britain
• Prime Minister Gerhardt Schoeder, Germany
• Prime Minister Atal Blhari Vajpayee, India
• Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi, Uganda
• President Moshe Katzav, Israel
• UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Gahli

In all, we have hosted 1500 cabinet ministers and 200 current and former heads of state.

Contact the Program Manager or Lead Program Officer if you would like to arrange a professional meeting with one of our visitors.