Fulbright Commission

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The American Fulbright Commission is an organization formed by law of August 1, 1946, which awards scholarships for study, research or teaching under the Fulbright program outside the United States to US citizens and nationals of the contracting parties in the United States .

The program goes back to the initiative of US Senator James William Fulbright , who studied in Great Britain on a Rhodes Scholarship before World War II . Immediately after the Second World War, he wanted to promote mutual understanding between the USA and other states through academic and cultural exchange. The first financing came from part of the proceeds from the sale of surplus war goods that were not returned to the USA, which thus served a peaceful purpose. The first exchange began with allied states such as China in the academic year 1948/49. In 1961, the Fulbright Hays Act put the program on a new financial basis. The funding guidelines are drawn up by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board , whose members are appointed directly by the US President . The guidelines of the respective national programs are decided by bi-national committees with equal representation and appointed by the two governments. The honorary chairpersons are the respective foreign ministers and US ambassadors.

The commission, based in Berlin (initially Bonn), as a German section promotes the exchange of German and American students, teachers and professors. German applicants are currently awarded around 55 scholarships each year to students from universities and technical colleges. Since its inception on July 18, 1952, the program has funded more than 40,000 people and had the largest volume of exchanges in the post-war period. Prominent scholarship holders included the Nobel Prize for Medicine Erwin Neher , the moderator for the day's topics Ulrich Wickert , and the former member of the Bundestag Peter Conradi . The German-American Fulbright program is financed by funds from the Federal Foreign Office and the US Department of State . The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Association of Friends & Sponsors of the German-American Fulbright Program provide additional support .

The Austrian Fulbright Commission (or Austrian-American Educational Commission ) was founded on July 6, 1950. It is based in Vienna . The first exchange year was the academic year 1951/52. Since then, over 5000 people have received funding. The Austrian program is financed bilaterally. The Swiss program is financed by companies from the USA and Switzerland and is handled by the US embassy.

Members of the Austrian Fulbright Commission included Anton Pelinka and Reinhard C. Heinisch .

The Pakistani program is currently the Fulbright Commission's largest exchange program, with around 100 master’s and 50 doctoral students.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Salzburger Nachrichten: Professor Heinisch flew out of the Fulbright Commission . Article from January 26, 2018, accessed on January 26, 2018.