Exchange Visitor Program refers to the international exchange program administered by the United States to implement the Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended, Public Law 87-256, 22 USC 2451, et seq. (1988). The purpose of the Act is to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchanges. Educational and cultural exchanges assist in furthering the United States' foreign policy objectives.

Historical Perspective

The establishment and development of the Exchange Visitor Program (EVP) may extend as far back as January 1948, when the United States Congress passed the Information and Education Exchange Act, also known as the Smith-Mundt Act. The law was intended "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of other countries" through:

* An information service to disseminate abroad information about the United States, its people, and its policies;
* An educational exchange service to cooperate with other nations in the interchange of persons, knowledge and skills; the rendering of technical and other services; and the interchange of developments in the field of education, arts, and sciences.

In 1956, the Philippine Government created an Exchange Visitor Program Committee, through Administrative Order No. 191, to coordinate its participation in the Program and properly channel the services of returned participants to the benefit of various government projects.

In 1970, then President Ferdinand Marcos reconstituted the EVP Committee by turning over the chairmanship to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, with the Secretary of Health as Co-Chairman. The membership was also expanded to include the undersecretaries of Education, Foreign Affairs, Labor, National Defense, and the Assistant Executive Secretary of the Office of the President.

On 04 May 1994, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs Roberto Romulo issued DFA Office Order No. 406-94 transferring the coordination of the Philippine participation in the Program from the Office of American Affairs of the DFA to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). In an effort to institutionalize the necessary mechanism for the effective implementation of EVP, CFO conducted a series of consultation meetings with various government agencies with the end-view of instituting relevant changes in the structures and mechanisms for the EVP implementation. An interim EVP Committee was consequently formed out of these efforts.

This interim Committee, drawing from the mandate provided under A.O. No. 210 and through Resolution No. 01-95, tasked the CFO to be the Secretariat to the interim Committee.

The EVP Committee was finally reconstituted on 17 January 1996 through A.O. No. 242.