By Andrew Kittell
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Summer’s here and the four-campus ACS community is celebrating our most recent graduates, welcoming them into a worldwide alumni network of distinguished professionals and lifelong learners.
And while school life may slow during the summer break, international relocation activity definitely ramps up. Soon, there’ll be new families joining ACS, continuing a school year-starting tradition that dates to 1967. For more than 20 of those years, ACS’s North American Office has been engaged as a thought leader in global mobility. Some of thoughts and observations follow.
Forum for Expatriate Management Americas Summit in San Diego
In late May, the Forum for Expatriate Management hosted its annual Americas Summit in Southern California (FEM Americas). Immigration in the age of Trump and Brexit filled part of the conference’s two-day agenda. Much attention was also paid to global mobility as career progression and to ongoing disruption in the relocation industry, both by advancing technology and sector consolidation.
During FEM Americas, the results of a new and largest-to-date survey of relocating partners was co-presented by leaders from EY and NetExpat. This survey of over 3,400 supports evidence collected for the last few decades: “family issues” remain among the top reasons for assignment turn down and failure. Schools like ACS that offer whole-family support mitigate this risk, literally saving millions of dollars in potential business and/or reputational loss.
ACS Alumni and Friends Chapters Launched in Chicago and Houston
May also welcomed the launch of our first two stateside ACS Alumni & Friends Chapters in Chicago and Houston, respectively. In both metro areas, ACSers number in the hundreds. These first chapters will be joined by others, part of a long-term plan to more actively engage all who’ve been fortunate enough to experience an ACS education. Most of these former students, parents, and staff will also join ACS’s charitable mission, making sure that future generations of talented and richly deserving young people share the best in internationally minded teaching and learning.
Look for ACS on the road, autumn 2018
In the autumn, ACS representatives will sponsor, exhibit, and present at key relocation and related events. Please catch up with us here:
British Ambassador’s Reception for ACS Summer Scholars Washington, DC, September 13th
Canadian Employee Relocation Council Conference Montreal, September 16th - 18th
Worldwide ERC Global Workforce Symposium Seattle, October 17th - 19th
Independent Educational Consultants Association Conference Los Angeles, November 7th - 9th
New Jersey Relocation Council Conference November 14th
British Ambassador's residence, Washington, DC