Fulbright program

Fulbright program
Introductory year:	1946
Founder:	J. William Fulbright (initiator)
Scholarship holders:	over 318,000 worldwide since the beginning
requirements
Target group:	Students and academics (including professors)

The Fulbright Program (sometimes also called the “ Fulbright Program ” after the US spelling ) is one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the world. With bilateral treaties and agreements, it relates solely and worldwide to academic exchanges to and from the USA .

Goal setting and history

The Fulbright Program is an international exchange program founded in 1946 between the United States of America and meanwhile (as of 2013) 155 other countries, 51 of which have their own binational Fulbright Commission or a total of more than 180 countries worldwide. Named after the US Senator J. William Fulbright (1905–1995), on whose bill the establishment of the program goes back, the Fulbright program promotes bilateral exchanges through grants to students and academics (including professors) for further university studies, research stays and Language teaching in secondary schools. In contrast to other scholarships, the aim of the program is expressly not only to promote academic performance, but also to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding. The Fulbright program is one of the most prestigious scholarship programs in the world. 53 Fulbright alumni received Nobel Prizes.

Part of the proceeds from the sale of surplus American war goods that were not returned to the United States (in Germany the so-called StEG goods ) were supposed to be used for financing . After the US Fulbright Act was signed on August 1, 1946, the first scholarship holders went to China in 1948. In 1961, all US laws on academic exchange were combined in the Fulbright Hays Act . Since its inception, the program has funded over 318,000 fellows worldwide. There are currently around 8,000 per year.

description

Today the program is administered by national Fulbright commissions in over 50 countries ; other countries have joint commissions or organize the scholarships without a commission. The program is often funded by the US State Department as well as the national government; however, in some cases either the State Department alone or the national government only pays. In some cases - for example in Switzerland - private sponsorship funds are also used to a large extent. In Germany, scholarships for technical college students are funded by Germany alone, while the US State Department contributes half of the costs for university students.

The requirements for a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States vary widely. In some countries, a degree and professional experience are a prerequisite ( postgraduate studies ), while in Germany in particular the majority of the scholarship holders are advanced students.

Most Fulbright programs sponsor Masters degrees and, less often, PhDs (earning a PhD) as degrees in the United States . Research stays for academics generally only last a few months for all programs.

In 2014 the program was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for International Cooperation.

Individual national programs

German program

The German-American program, founded in 1952, was for a long time the largest program internationally and has now funded over 40,000 scholarship holders. On the one hand, this was due to the US government's interest in exposing the largest possible number of German citizens to the influence of an American academic year, and on the other hand, it was made possible by the financial strength of the German government. German-American exchange programs have a normal duration of one academic year; in the case of extensions, only very basic services are provided (health insurance, retention of the visa ). Recently, Germans can also apply for grants for two-year master’s programs. German applicants are currently awarded around 55 scholarships each year to students from universities and technical colleges. In addition, there are 20 teaching assistant positions at colleges for completed teacher training students with English as a subject, which are awarded in cooperation with the educational exchange service. Germans who have received a scholarship from an American university can apply for a travel grant, which also includes the supervision of the commission as with the "normal" scholarship holders. Doctoral scholarships that are used for six to nine months of research at US universities (including several) exclude enrollment in the states. They apply to doctoral candidates who are at the beginning of their research. In Germany, the support is tax-exempt according to § 3 No. 42 of the German Income Tax Act.

Program for Austria and Switzerland

The Austrian and Swiss programs are smaller. The Austrian program began with the signing of a corresponding agreement on June 6, 1950. It supports around 20 Austrian students and ten Austrian teaching assistants at American institutes of German studies as well as American Bachelor graduates and scientists of both nationalities each year.

The Swiss program was reintroduced in 1999, initially with 13 to 20 scholarship holders each year, financed by Swiss and US companies. It is handled through the US embassy in Bern.

Pakistani program

In the meantime - given as an example - the Pakistani program has become the largest program in the world , due to the interests of US foreign policy, with around 100 master's students and 50 doctoral students per year; the total cost for the program is $ 157.5 million for the first five years. Since the Pakistani program was founded in 1951, more than 1,700 Pakistanis have received scholarships.

Fulbright alumni

Fulbright Alumni associations exist in many of the Fulbright Program's partner countries . The German Fulbright Alumni Association was founded in 1986 on the initiative of the then director of the German program unit, Jürgen Mulert. The alumni also award their own scholarships from membership fees and donations, and for the Commission's Diversity Initiative they award additional scholarships for the participation of high school graduates with a migration background in summer schools at American universities. The Jürgen Mulert Award, initiated by the association, is given annually to a project by an alumnus that serves the goal of "peace through understanding" named by William Fulbright. The association cooperates with the commission and with the other alumni associations, the European Network of American Alumni Associations (ENAM) and with other institutions and associations related to the USA. The association is divided into regional chapters, which in turn maintain local contacts. The Austrian Alumni Association and the Swiss Fulbright Alumni Association are more recent and still under construction.

Notable alumni

Fulbright alumni have historically held key roles in government, academia and industry.

• 10 were elected to the US Congress (as of 2012).
• 31 became heads of government or state (as of 2015).
• 20 became foreign ministers of their respective countries (as of 2012).
• One, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, became Secretary General of the United Nations (as of 2012).
• One, Javier Solana, became Secretary General of NATO (as of 2012).
• 54 from 14 countries have received the Nobel Prize (as of 2015).
• 82 have received the Pulitzer Prize (as of 2015).

J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding

Since 1993, the Fulbright Association has awarded the US $ 50,000 Fulbright Prize to individuals or organizations who have made extraordinary contributions in bringing people, cultures or nations together for better mutual understanding.

Award winners	year	country
Nelson Mandela	1993	South Africa
Jimmy Carter	1994	United States
Franz Vranitzky	1995	Austria
Corazon Aquino	1996	Philippines
Vaclav Havel	1997	Czech Republic
Patricio Aylwin	1998	Chile
Mary Robinson	1999	Ireland
Martti Ahtisaari	2000	Finland
Kofi Annan	2001	Ghana
Sadako Ogata	2002	Japan
Fernando Henrique Cardoso	2003	Brazil
Colin Powell	2004	United States
Bill Clinton	2006	United States
Desmond tutu	2008	South Africa
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation	2010	United States
Médecins Sans Frontières	2012	France
Hans Blix	2014	Sweden
Richard Lugar	2016	United States
Angela Merkel	2018	Germany

literature

• The Fulbright Experience and Academic Exchanges = The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 491, Issue 1, May 1987 ( content ).

Web links

• The Fulbright Program on the website of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State
• German Fulbright Commission
• Austrian Fulbright Commission
• James F. Tent : A Brief History of the German-American Fulbright Program, 1952-2002 . On: www.fulbright.de , 2006 ( PDF , 270 kB).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} About us. (No longer available online.) FULBRIGHT - Austrian-American Educational Commission, archived from the original on April 24, 2013 ; accessed on May 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Description of the program. (No longer available online.) The German-American Fulbright Commission, October 25, 2011, archived from the original on April 24, 2013 ; Retrieved May 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Notable Fulbrighters. US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), accessed May 11, 2013 . 
4. ↑ About Fulbright. US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), accessed May 11, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Günter Bischof : Ludwig Kleinwaechter and the Marshall Plan. In: austria.org. Austrian Embassy in Washinton, DC, accessed April 27, 2019 . 
6. ^ US Fulbright Student Program. (No longer available online.) FULBRIGHT - Austrian-American Educational Commission, archived from the original on November 2, 2011 ; accessed on May 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Press release of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (May 2, 2001): PM Fulbright Student Exchange Program (accessed September 20, 2007)
8. ↑ Information from the US embassy in Bern
9. ↑ Press release from the US Embassy in Islamabad (12/17/2005): Pakistan to Have the Biggest Fulbright Scholarship Program in the World: HEC And USEFP Sign Agreement Creating A New Fulbright / HEC / USAID PhD. Scholarship Program ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed September 20, 2007 - link no longer active, September 2012) General: Fulbright Pakistan ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
10. ^ Website of the Jürgen Mulert Award on Mutual Understanding
11. ^ German Fulbright Alumni eV
12. ^ Austrian Fulbright Alumni - Association of Austrian Fulbright Scholarship Holders
13. ↑ Swiss Fulbright Alumni Association (SFAA)
14. ↑ ^{a b c d} Fulbright Scholars. (No longer available online.) Embassy of the United States in La Paz, Bolivia, 2012, archived from the original on March 3, 2016 ; accessed on May 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.