Hutton Honors College
— Fulbright Overview
|
FULBRIGHT U.S. STUDENT PROGRAM GRANTS FOR GRADUATE STUDY AND RESEARCH ABROAD 2009-2010 GRANT PERIOD Overview The U.S. Congress created the Fulbright Program in 1946, immediately after World War II, to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges. Senator J. William Fulbright, sponsor of the legislation, saw it as a step toward building an alternative to armed conflict. Today the Fulbright Program is the U.S. Government's premier scholarship program. It enables U.S. students, artists and other professionals to benefit from unique resources in every corner of the world, and enables U.S. citizens to gain international competence in an increasingly interdependent world. The U.S. Student Program is designed to give recent B.S./B.A. graduates, master's and doctoral candidates, and young professionals and artists opportunities for personal development and international experience. Most grantees plan their own programs. Projects may include university coursework, independent library or field research, classes in a music conservatory or art school, special projects in the social or life sciences, or a combination. Recent projects have involved cancer research in the U.K., free market development in Mauritius, women's rights in Chile and contemporary artistic expression in India. Approximately 1500 awards will be granted for the 2009-2010 period. Fulbright Full Grants These grants generally provide round trip transportation; language or orientation courses where appropriate; tuition (in some cases); book and research allowances; maintenance for the academic year, based on living costs in the host country; and supplemental health and accident insurance. Fulbright full grants are payable in local currency or U.S. dollars, depending on the country of assignment. Opportunities for additional language training through a Critical Language Enhancement Award are available to those awarded a Fulbright Full grant and who plan to use an eligible language in their country. See the country profile for more details. Fulbright Travel Grants Travel grants are available only to Germany, Hungary, or Italy. They are available to supplement an award from a non IIE source that does not provide funds for travel or to supplement a student's own funds for study. PROVIDES: round trip transportation, insurance and if applicable, orientation courses. Travel grants provide round trip transportation to the country where the student will pursue studies for an academic year, supplemental health and accident insurance, the cost of an orientation course abroad, if applicable. Fulbright-mtvU Awards Up to 4 awards for projects that focus on international contemporary music or popular music as a force for cultural expression. Preference give to projects conveyed in a dynamic fashion and accompanied by a feasible plan. Applications are due by March 1, 2009. Teaching Opportunities 2009-2010 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships are available for teaching English, American Studies, and English and American literature in the following countries: Western Europe Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey Eastern Europe Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic Asia Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam South America Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela Complete program details for each country is contained in the Individual Country Summaries in the Fulbright brochure and on the website http://www.fulbrightonline.org/us Eligibility Requirements Applicants must be U.S. citizens at the time of application. Preference will be given to applicants whose higher education was received primarily at educational institutions in the United States. Foreign study during the junior year or other periods of undergraduate study that are integral parts of the curricula of American institutions will not be considered disqualifying. Preference usually will be given to candidates who have not resided or studied in the country to which they are applying for more than six months. Duty abroad in the Armed Forces of the United States is not considered disqualifying within the meaning of this section. Applicants must hold a B.A. degree or the equivalent before the beginning date of the grant. Applicants may not hold a doctoral degree at the time of application, unless otherwise noted. Exceptions Applicants who have not earned a B.A. degree or the equivalent, but who have extensive professional study and/or experience in fields in which they wish to pursue a project, may be considered. In the creative and performing arts, four years of professional study and/or experience meets the basic eligibility requirement. Applicants in medicine must have an M.D. or the equivalent (e.g., D.D.S., O.D.) degree at the time of application. Note: Doctors of medicine who wish primarily to continue medical or hospital training or to obtain additional practical clinical experience abroad should apply to IIE. A scholar with an M.D. degree who has completed his formal postgraduate training and proposes attachment to a hospital or clinic for the purpose of independent or collaborative research should apply to the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. Applicants may hold a J.D. degree at the time of application. Applicants must have sufficient proficiency in the written and spoken language of the host country to communicate with the people and to carry out the proposed study. Such proficiency is especially important to students wishing to undertake projects in the social sciences and the humanities. Applicants must be in good health. Grantees will be required to submit a satisfactory Certificate of Health from a physician. Ineligibility Note: These requirements are applicable to Fulbright Grants and to Foreign Grants supplemented by Fulbright Grants. Anyone who has already held a Fulbright full grant administered by IIE may apply again for a second such grant only after 3 years have lapsed. Grantees who have received Fulbright travel grants ARE eligible to apply for a Fulbright full grant the following year. Full-time permanent employees of the Department of State are ineligible for grants for a period of one year following the termination of their employment. This limitation also applied to members of their immediate families, i.e., spouses and dependent children. Part-time or temporary employees of the above should check with IIE. Employees of any agency involved in administering the educational and cultural exchange programs of the Department of State, and members of their immediate families, should check with IIE on their eligibility. Note: For most grants, applicants who have had extensive previous foreign experience are at a disadvantage, but they are not necessarily disqualified for that reason. However, an application to the following countries will not be considered if the applicant is currently residing in that country: Australia, Belgium/Luxembourg, Canada, Chile, China, EU Member States for EU Grants, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Macau, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom Factors Affecting Selection Selection is made on the basis of the applicant's academic or professional record, language preparation, the feasibility of the proposed study project, and personal qualifications. Among other factors, selections are affected by: Extent to which the candidate and the project will help to advance the program aim of promoting mutual understanding among nations. The ability of the supervising agencies abroad to arrange supervision. Requirements of programs in individual countries. In many countries, only advanced degree candidates may apply, and in some countries, certain fields of study are closed. Check with IIE before filing an application if you do not meet country specifications. Ratio between the number of awards offered in a given country and the number of applications received. Other qualifications being equal, preference is given to candidates who have not resided or studied for more than six months in the country to which they are applying. Desirability of achieving wide institutional and geographic distribution. Other qualifications being equal, veterans receive preference. Application Procedures Establish Your Eligibility Check the appropriate Individual Country Summary and Regional Summary to be sure there are awards to the country in which you are interested. Simply because an Individual Country Summary is not available does not mean that grants will not be available to that country. Applications may be made to one type of country program only (i.e., full grant or teaching assistantship). Candidates will be considered for all awards to the selected country that are appropriate to their academic level, to their objectives as outlined in their Statements of Proposed Study, and for which they meet the eligibility requirements. Fields of Study Applications will be considered from well qualified candidates in all fields, except as otherwise stated in the Individual Country Summaries. If a field is listed as "nonrecommended," generally applications will not be accepted in that field for that country. Check before filing an application in a nonrecommended field. Proposed Study or Project Applicants should outline study plans or projects in their major fields that can be completed in one country and in one academic year. Candidates may, under exceptional circumstances, submit projects involving research in more than one country. These multi country proposals, limited to no more than three countries, will be accepted only for countries within the same geographic region and must be approved by all countries involved. A strong justification for multi country proposals must be provided. Please check the Regional Summaries for those countries which may be part of an intra regional, multi country proposal. Affiliation Grantees are usually affiliated with institutions of higher learning in the host countries and must, as a condition of their grants, accept the institutional placements arranged for them. The application form has instructions on indicating preferences for placement. Some countries or world regions require that students arrange their own affiliations. Please see Individual Country Summaries and Regional Summaries for specifics. The university systems abroad vary from country to country and differ greatly from the system in the United States. Foreign universities generally do not give degrees after a year of study or research. Applicants, therefore, should not make the attainment of a foreign degree an object of their study, unless the award for which they are applying specifically allows for this option. Academic Credit The U.S. credit system does not exist in most foreign universities. Candidates should not assume they will receive credit for work done abroad. If students desire credit in the United States for study carried out abroad, they must make their own arrangements with their home institutions, preferably in advance of departure. Feasibility of Projects Applicants should give careful thought to the feasibility of their projects. Feasibility relates not only to the resources of the host country or institution, but also to certain fields of study, e.g., investigation into recent or current political or military issues, which might be sensitive for the host country. Another aspect of feasibility is the proposed method of carrying out the project. It should be kept in mind that some methodological techniques, such as extensive interviewing and the use of questionnaires, are inadvisable and unacceptable in some countries. Enrolled students are urged to consult professors in their major fields about the feasibility of their proposed projects. Language Skills and Academic Qualifications It is important that applicants have adequate formal training for the study they wish to pursue and that their language skills be commensurate with the requirements of their projects. Graduating seniors (those who will receive a bachelor's degree by the beginning date of the grant) will generally be expected to attend regular university lectures, but they should describe the study programs they wish to follow in terms as specific as possible. They should not expect close academic supervision and should be prepared to supplement lectures with independent work. Advanced degree candidates proposing research for theses and dissertations will be expected to work independently without close supervision. Creative and Performing Arts Applicants in the creative and performing arts should submit projects indicating their reasons for choosing a particular country, the form their work will take, the results they hope to obtain, and the contribution that a foreign experience will have on their future professional development. Applicants in the arts are required to submit samples of their work. They should consult the Special Instructions for Applicants in the Creative and Performing Arts in the application form. Creative Writing and Journalism The Fulbright Program has a long tradition of awarding grants to talented, young American writers. To this end, applications from creative writers and journalists to carry out a major writing project overseas are encouraged. Grantees are free to publish work produced during the grant tenure at any time. By sharing their insights and experiences with a larger audience, Fulbright grantees fulfill the program's goal of increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. Teaching Assistantships Applicants for the Teaching Assistantship programs should indicate their reasons for wishing to serve as teaching assistants. Where appropriate to the program, candidates should submit supplementary study plans. Applicants should consult the Individual Country Summaries for specific study opportunities before filing an application. Stages in Selection Students enrolled at Indiana University must submit applications to the IU Fulbright Program Advisor at 201 North Indiana Ave. by the campus deadline: 5:00 p.m. Monday September 15th, 2008 All applicants will be interviewed individually by the IU Fulbright Committee during the period of September 29-October 8, 2008. Students may revise any component of their application based on committee feedback. All revisions will be due to Paul Fogleman by 5 p.m. October 18, 2008 to be forwarded to IIE in New York in time to meet the national deadline on October 20, 2008. IIE's National Screening Committee (NSC), consisting of specialists in various fields and area studies, meets in November and December to review all applications, and recommends candidates for further consideration. Applications of recommended candidates are transmitted to supervising agencies abroad for further review by January 31, 2009. Applicants who are recommended to their target country should learn by May 31, 2009 at the latest whether they will receive a grant for the 2009-2010 year. Final selection for Fulbright Grants is made by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, taking into account the recommendations of the NSC, availability of funds, approval of the supervising agencies abroad, and other program requirements. For non-Fulbright grants, the appropriate foreign government, university or private donor makes the final selection. Web Resources IIE Fulbright Grants for U.S. Students and Related Grants for Graduate Study and Research Abroad U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Grants for Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsddrap/applicant.html See Word and PDF links to DDRA application here. Online application at http://e-grants.ed.gov/ Other Resources U.S. Embassies and Other Diplomatic Missions http://usembassy.state.gov/ College and University Home Pages Geographic Listing http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/geog.html U.S. Department of State Travel Warnings http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html Indiana University Faculty Research Interests Directory http://expertise.cos.com/cgi-bin/searchexp?code=2817 Please note: The GradGrants Center will offer another Fulbright Workshop in early September. This September workshop will focus on the nuts and bolts of the application process. Please consult the GradGrants Center workshop schedule in August for more information. http://www.indiana.edu/~gradgrnt/workshop.html PAUL FOGLEMAN PROGRAM OFFICER FULBRIGHT PROGRAM ADVISER INDIANA UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 201 NORTH INDIANA AVE. BLOOMINGTON, IN 47408 PHONE (812) 855-3948; FAX: (812) 855-6271 E-MAIL: PFOGLEMA@INDIANA.EDU |
