preview

The Fulbright Program Essay

Better Essays

The Fulbright Program

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affections for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its body.” - Albert Einstein -
“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together”
- Woodrow Wilson -
I. Introduction

Great wars have taught valuable lessons to humanity. It’s not …show more content…

higher education since the program’s inception in 1946. Today the program continues to award approximately 4,500 new grants each year. (U.S. Department of State, 2002).
Although the program was build with the mission of promoting capacity for empathy and understanding among nations its launch was also prompted by a very practical purpose, namely the need to deal with the millions of pieces of war surplus equipment that remained overseas after the war.

II. The Historical Context

Exchange of Scholars in early U.S. Higher Education

There is no record of any state or federally funded scholar exchange program until the twentieth century. However, it wasn’t uncommon for American students and scholars to study in educational institutions abroad even early in the history of U.S. higher education. German universities were usually the early favorites. Benjamin Franklin had become the first American to visit a German university, when he went to Gottingen in 1766. In the 19th century many professors in the American universities, including the ones that had German origin had studied in Germany and most of them had received their doctoral degrees from German universities.
Number of students who were officially enrolled in German Universities between 1815 and 1870 is estimated to be 640 (Goldschmidt, 1991). Although the number of students enrolled slightly diminished towards the First World War, there were 255 American students enrolled in a

Get Access