About us

The Virtual Consulting Office – The VCO is a network of EducationUSA advisers that provides answers in different languages to questions regarding study in the United States through a professional e-consulting service Supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

BACKGROUND

The VCO project was developed by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) PAL (Professional Advising Leadership) program alum, Dr. Viktar Khotsim, formerly based at the EducationUSA center in Minsk, Belarus. The program, initially supported with an ETS (Education Testing Service) Future Excellence Award, was originally designed to provide general information, in Russian, on U.S. study via email to prospective students and parents. On January 22, 2004 the first draft of the Eurasian Virtual Consulting Office – EducationUSA was opened to the public. This was a pioneer project in the EducationUSA network which grew to involve a group of advisers from different countries. The program uses a team-based operation of one website, based on a content management system, and built using web templates. The VCO program is the first region-wide virtual consulting service on education in the U.S. created and run by EducationUSA advisers. The VCO was expanded in December 2005 to include Arabic, Chinese, English and Spanish and again in May 2008 to include French and Portuguese. The multilingual VCO has been adapted by a team of USBT (U.S.-Based Training) and PAL alumni from around the world.

GOAL

The primary aim of the VCO project is to provide accurate and timely information to students and/or parents, as managed by experienced educational advisers. This service provides information to people in regions of the world who either do not have advanced English language skills or for whom access to a physical EducationUSA advising center is limited. It also offers an additional type of service to students in cities where centers are already located. The VCO is not intended to be a substitute for individual advising but rather a means of answering general questions in preparation for more efficient and productive in-person meetings.