The Fulbright Foreign Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals, and artists from abroad to study and conduct research in the United States. The Fulbright Foreign Student Program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide. Approximately 4,000 foreign students receive Fulbright scholarships each year.

The Fulbright Foreign Student Program is administered by binational Fulbright Commissions/Foundations or U.S. Embassies. All Foreign Student Program applications are processed by these offices. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program provides participants-chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential – with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Grants are available for U.S. citizens to go abroad and for non-U.S. citizens with no U.S. permanent residence to come to the U.S. The Fulbright Program is an important element of the United States’ bilateral relationships with countries around the world. U.S. and foreign governments jointly set priorities for the exchanges.

Scholarship Details

Generally, the grant funds tuition, airfare, a living stipend, and health insurance, etc. The Fulbright program provides funding for the duration of the study.

Application Procedure

U.S. applicants (U.S. citizens) apply either through their university or college or at-large to the cooperating agency responsible for the program in which they are interested.

The cooperating agencies then recommend U.S. applicants who have passed initial screening to the binational Fulbright Commissions or to the U.S. Embassies (in countries without a Commission) in the application country for their recommendation.

Non-U.S. applicants (non-U.S. citizens) apply to either the Fulbright Commission in their country of citizenship or the U.S. Embassy in their country of citizenship (in countries where there is not a Fulbright Commission).

The binational Fulbright Commissions and U.S. Embassies recommend both U.S. and non-U.S. candidates to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB). The FSB makes the final selections for candidates.

Placement of selected applicants varies by the type of grant. Generally, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program participants propose their own institutional affiliation in the host country when applying. Participants in the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant and English Teaching Assistant programs are assigned their host institutions. The Fulbright Scholar Program and the Fulbright Teacher Exchange programs generally match participants with host institutions wanting their particular expertise or area of specialization.

More details can be found on the Applicant page