Throughout the past 20 years, VIF's innovative approach to international education has positively influenced the lives of more than one million students, educators and community members.
VIF began hosting k-12 teachers in 1989 in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The first group of 12 international teachers worked in 10 North Carolina counties as language teachers. In 1996, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction asked VIF to provide teachers in other subject areas.
Since then, VIF has expanded to include international education programs. Through these programs, VIF supports the teaching of 21st-century skills, promotes effective cultural exchange, and achieves key objectives of the U.S. Department of State, including language study, global literacy and public diplomacy.
Since its founding, VIF has sponsored 8,500 educators from more than 70 nations. Our highly qualified and experienced teachers have worked in more than 1,500 U.S. schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Maryland and California.
Today, VIF's reach is global and the program recruits worldwide in countries as diverse as Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and Venezuela.