The Fulbright Program was created in 1946 by the United States Congress, immediately after World War II. Former U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright sponsored the legislation, seeing the Program as a step toward building international cooperation.

The mission of the Fulbright Program is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It pursues this mission by awarding grants and fellowships, on an open competition basis, to students, teachers, scholars, artists and professionals from participating countries to study, teach, lecture and conduct research in the United States, and to U.S. citizens to engage in similar activities abroad. Grants are awarded on a rigorously competitive basis to individuals selected on the basis of academic excellence and professional qualifications.

Since it was established the Fulbright Program has provided more than 255,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — with the opportunity to observe each others' political, economic and cultural institutions, exchange ideas and embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world's inhabitants. More than 96,000 Americans and 158,000 participants from other countries have benefited from the Fulbright experience. Currently, the Program operates in 140 countries worldwide.

The term “Fulbright Program” encompasses a variety of exchange programs, including several types of individual and institutional grants. Most are financed on a partnership basis between the host country and the U.S. Fulbright Programs include:

• The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 scholars and professionals each year to more than 140 countries, where they lecture or conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
• The Visiting Fulbright Scholar Program awards grants to foreign scholars to come to the United States to lecture or conduct postdoctoral research. Nearly 800 scholars come annually for an academic year or term.
• Pre-Doctoral Fellowships are offered to U.S. and foreign graduate students and graduating seniors. Nearly 800 Americans are studying abroad with either full or partial support from the Fulbright Program. Similar awards are offered each year to foreign graduate students for support at U.S. universities (www.cies.org/about_fulb.htm).
• The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program provides opportunities for mostly one-for-one exchanges between U.S. and foreign elementary, secondary and post-secondary teachers.
• The Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program was established in 1979 to bring accomplished mid-career professionals from developing countries to the United States at a mid-point in their careers for a year of study and related professional experiences. Fellows are selected on the basis of their potential for national leadership in the fields of public administration and public policy analysis, public health, agricultural development and planning and resource management.
• The College and University Affiliations Program seeks to establish linkages between U.S. universities and institutions overseas through the exchange of faculty and staff. Begun as a pilot project in Africa in 1982, the program became worldwide in 1983. These linkages focus on the social sciences, humanities, business administration and the arts. Since the program's inception, over 350 institutional grants have been awarded.
• A portion of the Fulbright program, the Fulbright-Hays Foreign Area and Language Training Programs, is administered by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of International Education and Graduate Programs. Funds are awarded to Americans individually or to U.S. institutions to support research and training efforts abroad focusing on non-western foreign languages and world area studies.

The Fulbright Program is administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the United States Congress to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions in foreign countries and in the United States also contribute financially through cost-sharing and indirect support, such as salary supplements, tuition waivers and university housing.

The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB), composed of 12 educational and public leaders appointed by the President of the United States, formulates policy for the administration of the program, establishes criteria for the selection of candidates and approves candidates nominated for awards.

The United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, develops policies to assure fulfillment of the purposes of the Program and administers it with the assistance of binational education commissions and foundations in some 51 countries that have executive agreements with the United States for continuing exchange programs, United States embassies in 89 other countries and a number of cooperating agencies in the United States.

Binational commissions and foundations draw up the annual program plan for exchanges, in consultation with participating universities and organizations in the host country. They also screen, interview, and recommend to the FSB qualified candidates for student and faculty grants under their exchange programs. In a country without a commission or foundation, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy develops the program and supervises it locally.

The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), under a cooperative agreement with the Department of State, administers the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty and professionals. CIES is a division of the Institute of International Education (IIE) and has close working relationships with the major disciplinary bodies in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. During the terms of their grants in the United States, Fulbright lecturers and researchers are assisted by CIES.

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