Academic Exchange Specialist

The position is located in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs (ECA/A). ECA/A is responsible for the policy, planning, development, implementation, and coordination of programs of academic exchange for students, scholars, teachers, and professionals between the United States and other countries; support for U.S. study abroad and recruitment of international students to the U.S.

Major duties

• Supports the management of a wide range of ECA/A sponsored programs in 160 countries and involving numerous U.S. based program agencies and grant recipients and approximately 50 overseas bilateral commissions.
• Formulates, plans, manages, and executes special events, academic exchange projects, and public outreach activities to reach broad and varied audiences.
• Develops and maintains cooperative contacts with academic exchange program stakeholders throughout the Department and other federal agencies.
• Drafts, edits, and compiles briefing materials, policy papers, project reports, news releases, responses to Congressional queries, and other documents and messages, usually on short deadline.
• Coordinates and tracks activities, proposals, policy papers, responses to taskers, reports, and other documents related to ECA/A programs and international exchanges and education issues contributing to national security goals.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all the required qualification requirements described below by the closing date of this announcement. If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed below, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript with your application. NOTE: Applicants must meet time-in-grade and time after competitive appointment requirements, by the closing date of this announcement. Time-In-Grade Requirements: Federal applicants must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade to satisfy time-in-grade restrictions, per 5CFR 300, Subpart F. Degree: major or equivalent, or a combination of courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, in international law and international relations, political science, economics, history, sociology, geography, social or cultural anthropology, law, statistics, or in the humanities; or 12 semester hours in one of the above disciplines and 12 semester hours in statistics/quantitative methods. OR Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major, or a combination of related courses totaling at least 24 semester hours, as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education. OR Experience: four years of appropriate experience in one or more of the fields listed above in work associated with international organizations, problems, or other aspects of foreign affairs. IN ADDITION to the basic requirements, this position requires one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal service which provided the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of the position. Qualifying specialized experience must demonstrate the following: Experience initiating, developing, administering, and/or evaluating exchange programs and/or public diplomacy projects. Experience providing advice and guidance on programmatic issues; establishing liaison with key stakeholders; and negotiating complex issues to reach consensus. Experience with resource coordination, either related to the federal award process or budget formulation/execution. Experience drafting briefing papers, public remarks, and/or concept papers related to international affairs/exchange programs/public diplomacy projects. Note: If you are qualifying based on education, you MUST submit transcripts as verification of educational requirement by the closing date of this announcement. If you fail to provide requested information, or the information you submit is insufficient to verify your eligibility, you WILL lose consideration for this position.

Education

See the qualifications section of this vacancy announcement for education requirements.