Foreign Student Series #13 >Fulbright Program
By Nancy Steinbach
December 12, 2002

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our series of reports about how foreign students can study at an American college or university. This information also can be found on the Special English Web page at www.voaspecialenglish.com.

Last week, we gave information about financial aid for foreign students. Today, we will tell about a special educational program that began more than fifty years ago. It is called the Fullbright Program.

The Fulbright Program of the United States government helps people study or do research in other countries. Senator J. William Fulbright established the program in nineteen-forty-six. He believed that international exchange was a good way to improve world understanding. He also believed the program could educate future world leaders.

Senator Fulbright thought that living and learning in another country would help people understand other ideas and ways of life. And he thought the experience would help them understand their own country, too.

More than two-hundred-thirty-thousand students, teachers and researchers have taken part in the Fulbright Program. Some of them later became famous. Two examples are the former secretary general of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the former official poet of the United States, Rita Dove.

Those who take part in the program are called Fulbright Scholars. Americans study or teach in foreign countries. People from other nations study and work in the United States. Fulbright Scholars receive enough money to pay for travel, education and living costs. The program is paid for by the United States government, governments of other countries, and private groups.

Nearly five-thousand Fulbright grants are awarded each year for American and foreign students, teachers, professors and professionals. The program is organized by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. It operates in one-hundred-forty countries.

You can get information about the Fulbright Program at the United States Embassy in your country. Or use a computer to get the details. Just type fulbrightprogram into an Internet search engine and you will find the Web site.

This VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT was written by Nancy Steinbach.