The coalition was acting on behalf of twenty-eight US colleges and universities who want the President to reconsider these regulations restricting academic travel to the island. This renewed call comes in the wake of the recent release of political prisoners on the island.

In an extract from the letter the coalition states “ the regulations implemented in 2004 all but put a stop to educational exchanges between the US and Cuba”. They acknowledge that recent work by the administration has made it easier for Cubans to travel to the US on educational and cultural programmes and now hope that similar deregulation will increase opportunities for American students to go the other way.

Recent data indicates that only about 250 US students studied in Cuba in 2007-2008, compared with over 2,000 that were able to study there four years earlier. You can find a copy of the letter and a list of signatories as well as learning more about the continuing advocacy campaign Cuba is No Exception: Academic Travel Should be a Freedom for Everyone at NAFSA’s online home for their grassroots community, Connecting Our World.

Have you lived or studied in Cuba? Have you considered studying in Cuba but been unable to because of regulations? Let us know your thoughts.

This new effort to allow academic exchange programmes between the US and Cuba has come as a result of Obama’s willingness to forge new ties with Cuba when he proposed an “equal partnership” with all nations of the Americas at the Summit of the Americas in April.

In the letter, signed by NAFSA and seventeen other organisations, the organisations praise Obama’s plans of a new beginning with Cuba and urge him to change the restrictions on exchange programmes between the US and Cuba as a vital step in this new relationship. The letter states:

“As you recently noted in your address to a group of students in Turkey, “exchanges can break down the walls between us.” However, Cuba currently remains the only country in the world where the United States government restricts study by American students, as well as academic travel by bona fide teachers and researchers….One way in which to advance opportunities for young people to engage internationally would be to lift the current restrictions and permit academic travel to Cuba via general license. We would also welcome a trend of granting US visas for Cubans coming for exchange purposes”.

The full letter is available to view and download here. NAFSA have also published details of the legislation and will update any changes on the Public Policy page of their website.