About the Fulbright Program
What is the Fulbright Program?
The Fulbright Program promotes educational exchanges, primarly for university faculty and students, that involve lecturing, research and graduate study. Over 40,000 US faculty have taken up positions abroad for a semester or longer, and an equal number have come to the US.
The program is administered by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), a private foundation. Fulbright programs receive approximately $120 million in Congressional appropriations. In addition, a number of participating governments contribute an additional amount of around $30 million. CIES is assisted in its activities by binational commissions or the Public Affairs Section of the US embassy in individual countries.
Initially, the Fulbright Program entailed only the Traditional Fulbright Scholar Awards. In recent years, the number of different award programs has expanded to meet a variety of academic exchange needs. For detailed information on the awards check the CIES website: http://www.cies.org/.
Who Are the US Fulbrighters?
Fulbright Scholar grantees come from all parts of the American academic and professional landscape— community colleges, liberal arts colleges, minority serving institutions, large research universities, private industry, not-for-profits and government agencies. Approximately 500 institutions are represented in each year’s competition. Grantees are drawn from every state in the Union, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fulbrighters are teachers, administrators, lawyers, business people, artists, photographers, and independent scholars.The majority of Fulbright grantees are new to the program. In fact, more than 85 percent of grantees received their first Fulbright award each competition.
Typical Reasons to Apply for a Fulbright
The reasons for applying for a Fulbright grant are as varied as our applicant pool. You may want your family to experience living abroad. You may be interested in sharing your academic expertise in a classroom overseas, or want to conduct research in an archive or work with your colleagues abroad. You may be interested in the development of foreign educational systems, administration and curricula development. Or, you may be planning to globalize your institution and want to create new linkages between your home campus and a foreign institution.
Whatever your reasons, as a Fulbright grantee you will refresh your thinking, and learn about a discipline in a context other than that of the United States.
Main Programs:
- Traditional Fulbright Scholar Program. Each year, 800 scholars and professionals from universities go to more than 140 countries to lecture or conduct research.
- Visiting Scholar Program. Each year, 800 foreign scholars come to the United States universities to to lecture or conduct postdoctoral research.
Deadline: Various dates in Fall
- The Fulbright Senior Specialists. US academics receive short-term grants of two to six weeks to collaborate with overseas colleagues on curriculum and faculty development and other consulting needs.
Deadline: Rolling
- Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program. US academics with distinguished reputation receive awards for short term lecture and research mostly in Western Europe. Deadline May 1.
- Alumni Iniative Award. Provides grants to Fulbright alumni to develop projects which will increase linkages between their home and host institutions.
Deadline: Mid-February
- Student Fulbright Program. U.S.graduate students and graduating seniors provided grants to study abroad in over 140 countries. Similar awards are offered to foreign graduate students to attend U.S. universities.
Call the registrar’s office for information on submission deadlines.
- College and University Affiliations Program. Supports linkages between U.S. universities and institutions overseas through the exchange of faculty and staff. Deadline: Early November
- Foreign Area and Language Training Program. Fosters research and training endeavors focused on non-western languages and area studies through a number of programs. Administered by the Department of Education's Office of International Education and Graduate Programs