Secretary of State receives J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program students and professors

September 8, 2022 [San Juan, Puerto Rico] Secretary of State Omar J. Marrero Díaz received 14 students and professors participating in the J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program. This program is attached to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the federal Department of State and seeks foreign students and professors to study and work in U.S. territory for a defined period of time.

This semester students will attend the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Interamerican University and the Alliance Française. While the professors will offer classes at the Mandarin for the Future Institute. Participants come from China, Spain, France and Guatemala.

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"This exchange program is an initiative that works under our State Impact motto through which we develop specific ideas that result in opportunities to promote Puerto Rico. In addition, it is a tool aimed at the trend of internationalization of education that allows us to attract students and professors from abroad and show the attractions of Puerto Rico's higher education system. The program benefits students and professors as well as educational institutions, corporations and organizations," said the Secretary of State.

The Program promotes cultural and academic exchange with foreign countries under the authority provided by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. Participants will take architecture classes at the Polytechnic University, criminology classes at the Interamerican University and cultural internships at the Alliance Française. The teachers participating in this program will teach Mandarin Chinese at the Mandarin Institute of the Future.

Some of the universities that have participated in and benefited from the J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program are: University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus; Inter-American University, School of Law; Metropolitan Campus, School of Aeronautics, Bayamon Campus, San German Campus; Sacred Heart University; Universities of the Ana G. Mendez System, Universidad del Este, Universidad Metropolitana, Universidad del Turabo and the Polytechnic University.

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