AMIDEAST is a U.S. non-profit organization that works to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between Americans and the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa.
AMIDEAST provides English language and professional skills training, educational advising, and testing services to hundreds of thousands of students and professionals in the Middle East and North Africa; supports numerous institutional development projects in the region; and administers educational exchange programs.
AMIDEAST is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and maintains a network of field offices in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen as well as conducting activities in other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
AMIDEAST was founded in 1951 as American Friends of the Middle East, and over the years has expanded its offerings to include English-language instruction, professional development courses for companies whose employees work in the Middle East, test administration, U.S. study advising, institutional development projects, and study-abroad and exchange programs for both Americans and Middle Easterners.
As the American Friends of the Middle East, the organization sponsored the exchange of scholars, artists, and lecturers between the Middle East and the United States.
Since 2007, AMIDEAST's Education Abroad department provides semester, academic year, and summer study abroad opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa for college students. Two decades prior to and continuously since the creation of its regular programs, AMIDEAST field offices have assisted U.S. colleges and universities and other study abroad organizations with their programs in the region. Currently, AMIDEAST Education Abroad runs 17 programs in 5 different Arab countries.