United States Diplomatic Mission to South Africa

THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM SOUTH AFRICA

Goals and objectives

The main goal of the Fulbright program in South Africa, in accordance with the worldwide Fulbright mandate, is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of South Africa, through educational, cultural and professional exchanges.

The primary source of funding of the Fulbright scholarships to and from South Africa comes from the US Government. Higher education and research institutions in South Africa and the United States support the exchange program through shared costs or non-monetary contributions.

The Fulbright Program offers invaluable opportunities for intellectual, professional, and artistic growth. It also enables grantees to meet and work not only with people of the host countries, South Africa and the United States, but also with nationals from around the world in classrooms, libraries and social environments. Fulbrighters share daily life as well as professional and creative insights. The Program thus promotes cross-cultural interaction and mutual understanding on a person-to-person basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom.

Program History

"Of all the joint ventures in which we might engage, the most productive, in my view, is educational exchange... (which) is not merely one of those nice but marginal activities in which we engage in international affairs, but rather, from the standpoint of future world peace and order, probably the most important and potentially rewarding of our foreign policy activities." - Sen J. William Fulbright

"The prejudices and misconceptions which exist in every country regarding foreign people are the great barrier to any system of government. If, however, the peoples of the world could get to know each other better, live together and learn side by side, maybe they would be more inclined to cooperate and less willing to go off and kill each other". – Senator J William Fulbright.

The worldwide Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Senator J William Fulbright of Arkansas. Approximately 250,000 “Fulbrighters”, 94,000 from the United States and 156,000 from other countries, have participated in the Program since its inception more than fifty years ago. Fulbright Alumni around the world include heads of state, prime ministers, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, ambassadors, artists, professors, scientists, astronauts, journalists, Supreme Court Judges, and corporate directors.

Program History in South Africa

Since 1953, more than 1,500 South Africans and Americans have participated in the Fulbright exchange program. Over these fifty years, the Fulbright program in South Africa has produced exceptional leaders, many having come from the disadvantaged communities of the apartheid era who today are in prominent positions in government, parliament, educational institutions and the non-profit and private sectors.