Fulbright Program Celebrates 60 Years in Pakistan
Washington - For 60 years, Pakistani and American scholars have visited each other's educational institutions, shared knowledge and fostered cultural understanding through academic collaboration. The Fulbright Program has made many of these relationships possible.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international academic exchange designed to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and people of other countries. It promotes leadership development through learning and international cooperation. The United States and Pakistan initiated their Fulbright partnership on September 23, 1950, and each country immediately began sending scholars abroad to the other country.
In 2010, the United States will send nearly 2,500 Pakistani students, teachers and other professionals to the United States for exchange programs while American scholars go to Pakistan to conduct research and teach at Pakistani universities, according to a June 30 statement ( http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/June/20100630171356SBlebahC6.548274e-02.html ) from the White House's National Security Council (NSC). The U.S. is dramatically increasing academic and professional exchange programs with Pakistan as part of the growing U.S.-Pakistan partnership ( http://www.america.gov/st/sca-english/2010/May/20100521105053kJleinaD0.833172.html ), NSC spokesman Mike Hammer said in the statement.
"Our countries are strengthened by the people-to-people ties built by this program and the alumni of other U.S. sponsored academic and professional exchanges," Hammer said. "As the President has said, 'both America and Pakistan care deeply about the education of our young people for the jobs and economies of the future.'"
The United States-Pakistan Fulbright agreement was one of the first of its kind, and 155 more partnerships with other countries have followed. Though the Fulbright Program has expanded worldwide, its program in Pakistan remains the largest.
"Over the arc of 60 years, nearly 4,000 Pakistanis and Americans have participated in Fulbright exchanges," said U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson in celebration of the program's anniversary at the 7th Annual Fulbright and Humphrey Alumni Conference ( http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/pr-10042303.html ) in Islamabad April 23.
As Patterson highlighted in her remarks, in just the last five years, 947 Pakistani scholars traveled to the United States on Fulbright grants. Of these individuals, 42 percent were women. The scholars represent 74 different Pakistani cities and an array of academic disciplines, Patterson said. Additionally, 96 Pakistanis received Humphrey Fellowships, which provide for one to two years of professional enrichment in graduate-level study in the United States. These grants are available to mid-level professionals.
Fulbright recipients contribute invaluably to the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, Patterson said. She especially highlighted the contributions Pakistani scholars have made to American institutions.
"Nothing can substitute for the people-to-people contacts achieved by inviting some of the world's best scholars to enrich America's campuses by teaching, studying and conducting research alongside their American counterparts," Patterson said.
"Foreign scholars contribute to our universities not only in their scholarly pursuits, but also by weaving strands of their home culture into the American fabric," she added.
DUAL EXCHANGES
The exchanges work in the opposite direction as well. Americans go to Pakistan for education opportunities under such programs as the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program and the Fulbright U.S. Specialist Program.
Through the Scholar and Specialist programs, American scholars and professionals will visit Pakistan to lecture, conduct research and participate in seminars and collaborate with Pakistanis throughout 2010.
Administered by the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan, the Pakistan Fulbright program ( http://fulbright.state.gov/fulbright/regionscountries/whereare/south-and-central-asia/pakistan ) has plans to expand in 2010 and beyond. In fall 2010, 94 Pakistani students will begin master's degree programs in the United States, while 60 scholars will begin American doctoral courses. Efforts to send more Americans to Pakistani institutions are also under way.
"We believe that seeing Americans on your campuses will help connect Pakistani young people to the world, much as having Pakistanis on our campuses helps us," Patterson said.
Funding for Fulbright exchanges comes from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs and the government of Pakistan. Additional support from the Pakistani Higher Education Commission and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) helps to sustain the program.
FULBRIGHT'S LONG HISTORY, ACTIVE FUTURE
The Fulbright Program began as the brainchild of the late Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright.
"Having studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar from 1925 to 28, he well understood the powerful impact on young imaginations of a combined international exchange and scholarship experience," Patterson said. "He wanted Americans and young people from around the world to benefit from a similar experience."
In addition to master's and doctoral degree exchanges and the Humphrey Fellowships, the Pakistan Fulbright Program offers several other opportunities for study in the United States in 2010.
The Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program will send seven Pakistani teachers of English to American universities. These teachers will work to improve their English instructional skills while teaching Urdu, Pashto or Punjabi to their American counterparts. Through the Fulbright Scholar Program, 10 Pakistanis will participate in lectureships and/or post-doctoral research for 10 months at a U.S. college. Finally, one Pakistani student received the International Fulbright Science and Technology Award, which supports coursework and/or research toward a doctoral degree in science, technology or engineering.
Fulbright recipients are determined through a merit-based, transparent selection process.
BEYOND FULBRIGHT: OTHER EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGES
The success of the Fulbright Program serves as a model for several other educational exchange programs between the United States and Pakistan.
For students, these programs include a summer institute that brings Pakistani youth to the United States to study international relations, as well as two programs for Pakistani undergraduates to study at American institutions and participate in leadership training and other opportunities. The program aims for students from diverse backgrounds without previous international experience.
Two programs provide Pakistani teachers with training at United States universities. One leadership institute trains science teachers, while another provides enrichment for English teachers.
The Community College Initiative Program enables students from Pakistan to study for one year at a community college in the United States, earning a vocational certificate on completion of their studies. Sixty individuals are participating in 2010. The program could help provide a blueprint for vocational training in Pakistan, according to Patterson.
"The experiences of the 102 participants who have taken part in this new program to date, a large proportion of whom are from previously underserved areas, may be instructive as the [Pakistani] government begins to build its own program," Patterson said.
Looking to the future, the United States plans to invest more in Pakistan's higher education initiatives to help Pakistan build capacity "to research and propose policy solutions for its socio-economic challenges," Patterson said.
These investments in education projects also help to strengthen the United States-Pakistan relationship.
"I hope and believe that the next 60 years will bring us even closer as a result of our sustained efforts to promote educational and cultural exchanges between our two countries," Patterson said.
