The Fulbright Program aims to bring
a little more knowledge,
a little more reason, and
a little more compassion into
world affairs, and thereby increase
the chance that nations will learn
at last to live in peace and friendship.
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The Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 in the aftermath of WWII as an initiative of Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, who believed that a program of educational and cultural exchange between the people of the United States and those of other nations could play an important role in building lasting world peace.
The purpose of the program is “to enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of the other countries.” Grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university teaching, advanced research, graduate studies, non-academic professional programs in specified fields, and language teaching.
Since 1946, approximately 370,000 talented people worldwide have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships. It is now the largest and one of the most prestigious, educational scholarship programs in the world and operates between the U.S. and more than 160 countries. There are 59 Nobel Laureates and 84 Pulitzer Prize winners who were Fulbright Grantees.
The Foundation for Scholarly Exchange
The Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (Fulbright Taiwan), supported by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Taiwan’s Ministry of Education (MOE), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), is one of the 49 bilateral organizations in the world established specifically to administer the Fulbright educational exchange program. The other 100+ bilateral Fulbright programs are administered by U.S. embassies.
Over the past 60+ years, the Foundation has financed over 1600 Taiwan grantees to the U.S. and more than 1400 U.S. grantees to Taiwan. In 1962, the Foundation began the U.S. Education Information Center providing Taiwan students with information about studying in the U.S. Starting in 2003 with 8 teachers, the Foundation began cooperating with Yilan County Government in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) project. Over 15 years, the partnerships have extended to Kaohsiung City, Kinmen County, Taichung City, Taipei City, NTCPA, Taitung County, Hualien County, and Changhua County. In 2018, 113 Fulbright ETAs serve in local schools.
Starting in 2014, the Foundation developed its first strategic partners with the private sector and universities. The Formosa Plastics Group instituted a joint scholarship to support Taiwanese Scholars and Professionals in Early Intervention and Geriatric Health Promotion and provided financial support for Taitung ETAs. The Taiwan Cement Corporation joined in 2018 to support the ETA program. New MA and PhD scholarships for Americans were instituted with National Taiwan University, National Chengchi University, National Cheng Kung University, and National Taiwan Normal University.
In 2017, the foundation celebrated the “60 Years of Educational Exchange” with a Fulbright Thought Leader Forum on the theme of “Leadership Challenge: Equity, Ethics, and Globalization.” In addition, the Ministry of Culture also instituted a joint scholarship to support Taiwanese Professionals in Arts Administration, Policy Research and Development, International Marketing in Art and Culture, and Copyright Policy Studies in Art and Culture. In all, up to 226 places are now available for US and Taiwan grantees.