The Fulbright Program is program of educational grants (Fulbright Fellowships) sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. It was established to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries, through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills. The basic premise is that scholarship by a citizen of one country in a second country results in understanding in, of and by both countries.

The Fulbright Program provides funds for students, scholars and professionals to undertake graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools abroad. The reach of this program had been primarily European countries in the beginning. Now the foundation and granting of scholarship funds are worldwide operations.

The program was promoted by and named after Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright, who promulgated its passage through the US Senate in 1946.

The Foundation promotes Western values, but broadly defined. Persons from any country may outline and define a program relating to education and Western value and submit it to the Fulbright Foundation for funding. The scholarships are so-called "challenge grants", in that you actually have to do something useful while you study your subject.

Its first participants went overseas in 1948, funded by war reparations and foreign loan repayments to the United States (Fulbright Foundation). Since then, some 250,000 individuals have received Fulbright Fellowships.

External links

• Fulbright Program homepage (http://www.iie.org/TemplateFulbright.cfm?section=Fulbright1)
• Calif. Students Get Second Chance at Fulbright Reuters 2004-02-10 (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4330066)