Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast
Transcript For: Fulbright Grants to Europe
August 10, 2007
Valerie tells Tony about the Fulbright program in Europe and Eurasia.
Valerie: Hi! Welcome to the latest edition of the Fulbright Program Podcast. I’m your host, Valerie Hymas. Tony: And I’m Tony Claudino. And today’s podcast is a very special podcast because today we get to interview Valerie Hymas. Yes, yes. Valerie: Yay! I’m the host as well as the interviewee. Tony: Absolutely. Valerie: So, why am I the interviewee this time, Tony? Tony: Well, because you do manage Europe, and we need more information about Europe. It’s also one of the most popular… Valerie: Europe and Eurasia, as well. Tony: OK, we can get into Eurasia as well. So, give us a little bit of the background in applying to Europe. What kind of candidates? Give us some general feedback. Valerie: Well, I mean, as you know, Europe is definitely the region where we receive the most candidates worldwide. So, some of the countries that are the most competitive countries in the entire program are found in Europe, especially Western Europe. And I do manage both Europe and Eurasia, as well as Central Asia but I think we’re focusing today on Europe/Eurasia. So, some of those really, really competitive countries do pose some additional challenges when you apply there. We’re talking about France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain. Countries like that. Tony: And in Eurasia, what are the competitive countries? Valerie: Russia, within Eurasia, is really very competitive. And, also they have really stringent language expectations. So that is yet another challenge. But, aside from that, Europe runs the gamut. We want candidates from all backgrounds and all fields of study. The types of candidates- they’re really everybody. Everybody and anybody. Tony: Great. I have down here the number of awards for next year. So I guess my question is, are the award numbers going up for next year? Do they remain steady? Is there any growth in particular countries? Valerie: There is some growth, especially with the English Teaching Assistantship opportunities that are available. Italy is running a competition for ETA grants. They’ve had it- Tony: This is the first year? Valerie: It’s the first year that it’s going to be running in the normal competition. They did have a mini competition for the 07-08 academic year that was launched last Spring. And we did receive over 200 candidates for those 15 grants, so it was hugely competitive. But now Italy, ETA grants there are part of the normal competition. We’re also seeing the ETA program to Spain growing. Every year they’re adding more and more ETA opportunities there. Turkey has more ETA opportunities. Turkey has about ten, and some of those they offer in tandem with Bill Kent University, so they’re kind of co-sponsored awards. But they used to only offer two ETA grants and now they’re up to about ten. And there’re some hints that some other opportunities for English teaching might start up in a few countries. Candidates should always check our website for updates. Tony: Even to the last minute I would say. Valerie: Even to the last minute. And like I said, we had that late competition this year for Italy. So check it regularly. Tony: OK, so you think Turkey for the English Teaching Assistants program… Valerie: Spain Tony: Andorra. I mean, Andorra it seems like you have- I’m looking at the one pagers we have on the website Valerie: Ah, statistics, yes. Tony: So I’m looking at, Andorra has 13 applications for three grants for the 06 competition. Valerie: And they ended up offering four, as a matter of fact, in 07-08, so Tony: That’s not bad Valerie: They’re going up. They love their ETA program, Andorra. They would love to have as many as they can, they just need more funding. Tony: How about Germany and the ETA program, since we’re on ETAs? Valerie: Sure. Germany’s got a huge ETA program, there’s about 140 placements. And that ETA program really is at its heart a cultural exchange because they’ll take anybody into that program whether you speak really good German or basic German or you want to go into teaching as a career. As long as you have wanderlust and you want to learn about Germany and German culture and you just want to dive into a Fulbright experience, Germany and their ETA program is definitely something that candidates without a well defined project proposal who maybe want to stick to Western Europe should definitely give some thought to. Tony: OK. What makes a successful application to Europe? Valerie: It’s hard to generalize I think mostly because it is such a country driven program. Each competition is individual, so it’s easier to answer that question when you ask about France or the U.K. or Italy. Tony: Give me your top country. Valerie: Well, as everybody knows, the U.K. is the most competitive country and so, candidates who are competitive to the U.K. have outstanding reasons for wanting to do their projects in the U.K., have made contacts with potential hosts to supervise them, who have shown a great deal of motivation and leadership in their field as well as their community, who really, they are high flyers, superstars, going to change the world, save the world. Because when you’re talking about four to five hundred candidates for what actually boils down to around 15 grants, the U.K. Fulbright Commission can really afford to be as discerning as they choose to. So candidates have to really have an outstanding, 100% solid reason for going there, which is why we say candidates sometimes should consider other countries that are out there that have wonderful Fulbright opportunities, but may have some better numbers or better statistics. Tony: OK. How about Scandinavia? Finland? I know Finland loves to see applications. Valerie They do! And they just don’t get enough. They get maybe 20 applicants a year for their seven to eight grants. And I think that they might even offer more grants if they had the quality in the candidate pool that they would really like to see. And so they’ve even started offering a masters program to the University of Helsinki, which I think, is relatively new in the last couple of years. Tony: What kind of masters? Valerie: This award is for a student admitted to one of the international masters degree programs at the university. There is a website that candidates can go to for more information. And, in addition to applying to Fulbright, they also have to meet a November 15th deadline to the University of Helsinki as well. So candidates should check out Finland’s country summary on our website. I think the Scandinavian countries offer a lot of diverse opportunities for candidates, especially candidates who don’t have a lot of language skills because there’re so many programs in those countries that can be done in English. Tony: Tell me about the European Union, because I know that’s a hot… Valerie; That program I’ve seen really develop over the last seven years that I’ve been here. It used to have maybe four grants on offer. There are now up to nine or ten. And they’ve even kind of softened the criteria that they’re looking for. In the past, they were very, very specific on wanting candidates whose projects were focusing on the European Union as a supranational organization. So, you’re going into Germany and you’re studying the European Union’s impact or regulations on German farmers and how they were coping. And that’s still to a large extent true, that’s what they want. But they used to want candidates to kind of stay in one country and focus really heavily on just one country or go to Belgium or another country where E.U. organizations are operating, like the Court of Appeals, or the E.U. Court which is in Strasbourg, France. Tony: So how is it now? Valerie: So now they’re actually encouraging candidates to spend time in more than one E.U. country. Someone who maybe spent some time in Belgium at the European Union, focusing on more governmental issues might then go see how some E.U. regulations are actually being implemented in, let’s say, Portugal. Actually we do have an E.U grantee in Portugal and someone coming back from there. So, they might spend part of their time in Belgium and the rest of their time in Portugal or they might do country comparison where they spend some time in Spain and then more time in France, so… Tony: Can they go to E.U. candidate countries as well? Valerie: Not yet. It has to be an E.U. member country. No E.U. grants to Switzerland! Not an E.U. country as I’m sure everyone out there knows! They’ve even loosened up where maybe you don’t have to necessarily have a project that’s focused on the European Union, but you still must be studying with a European Union organization or within a university. For instance, there’s an interesting program at the University of Bath on the European Union. I think they’re now saying projects focusing on European affairs, which I think kind of opens it up to a greater pool of candidates. Tony: It definitely does. What about language? I know that you mentioned earlier in the podcast about, in Finland, for example, you could go and not know necessarily the language, but how about some other countries in Europe where you can get by without Valerie: Well, again, it largely depends upon the project because candidates sometimes design projects that are a little overwhelming or overambitious. Let’s say somebody wants to go to Poland and they’re going to be studying with a department and supervisors that speak English and so they can do their project in English. But then they add to their project a methodology that involves conducting interviews. And if they don’t speak solid Polish, that’s not really a feasible plan. So candidates should always make sure that their project design matches their language skills. But countries where you can find university programs and coursework, and a lot of faculty that speak English and where you can do projects in English include most of the Scandinavian countries as well as the Netherlands and Turkey has a lot of university programs in English. I’ve seen programs that exist like that in Germany, as well as some of the Central European countries, like Hungary. Tony: Czech Republic Valerie: I think that they do exist, but I think the Czech Fulbright Commission does tend to prefer candidates that have pretty solid Czech skills. Otherwise they want them to apply for their English Teaching Assistantship positions. And let’s not forget, obviously, Ireland and the United Kingdom, which you can do any project in English. Tony: Any new initiatives… There are certain grants that I enjoy talking about, especially for Europe, like the international business program in Spain. Is there anything else along those lines? Valerie: One thing that I think is very interesting is there is a Fulbright Diplomatic Award in Austria. It’s for students to go to that institution to pursue one of two different programs related to international relations. There is also a non-Fulbright award to the Diplomatic Academy in Austria which we receive applications for. It’s called the Jose Serrano grant. That is not a Fulbright grant, but candidates who apply for it to Austria who meet the basic criteria for Fulbright and for the Jose Serrano who want to go to the Diplomatic Academy will be considered for both. So definitely look at that. But they have some pretty specific criteria for that. Tony: OK. I think we’ve done a good job with Europe. Do you want to go to Eurasia at all? Valerie: Eurasia! I mean, let’s just say what Eurasia encompasses because that might be a term that a lot of people are going, “what are you talking about Valerie?” Eurasia includes Russia and Ukraine, which both of those countries run their own programs; they’re not regional programs. So basically if you apply to Ukraine, you’re only competing with candidates to Ukraine. Same goes with Russia. But it does also include the Eurasia regional countries, which are Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. And so candidates that apply to those countries are all in competition with one another basically. And there’s about ten grants to those five countries. And so it’s really candidate quality that determines who’s going to go to Belarus, how many we’re going to have to Moldova, as opposed to getting two to each of those countries. But they do try to spread them around as well. We like to see… Tony: All different types of fields of study. Valerie: All different types of fields of study. Those countries can be difficult to go to without some pretty solid language. Now whether the language be, let’s say, Georgian or Armenian or Russian, really depends upon the project, and the candidates would have to figure out for themselves what projects… Tony: Well, with Russia they can apply for the Critical Language Enhancement Awards. Valerie: They can, they can. They can apply for that to Russia. Now whether or not they can apply for the Critical Language Enhancement Award to study Russian to any of the other countries is I think something we’re currently considering and we’re updating. But definitely candidates should look into that, but right now, I think, they have to make a strong justification as to why they need to study Russian to go to Ukraine, for example. But Russia definitely is a country that they’d consider it. We also didn’t mention it before but Turkey also is another country for the Critical Language Enhancement Award. Tony: That’s right. Valerie: But if you’re going to study Turkish on the Critical Language Enhancement Award, you have to be applying for a Fulbright to Turkey. That is definitely accurate. Tony: I think we’re good for Europe and Eurasia. Any last comments you want to make to anyone applying, or Valerie: Candidates out there, just select your countries carefully and think about what resources are existent that you need to conduct your projects. And if you’re heading to France, but wanting to do a project that could actually be done, let’s say, in Slovenia, maybe give it some thought. Some of those tiny little countries that just sound pretty exotic and so wonderful, I find that grantees that go there have wonderful experiences. So don’t discount Moldova! Give it some thought. Tony: We’re going to answer one question that came in… Valerie: OK Tony: …from Nicole. She asks, “I am a rising senior interested in applying for a Fulbright. I am leaning towards Spain, but I have a quick question for you. Is it possible for a pharmaceutical company to be my affiliation in conducting scientific research?” Valerie: I think I might have spoken to Nicole. Tony: Well, for any of the other science related people… Valerie: Well, it is a country specific question. Companies, hmm. We tend to frown upon professional organizations or companies serving as host institutional affiliations overall. Spain, however, tends to be very open so I think that would be fine for Spain especially if it was a very scientific research based project. If she was going to just do, let’s say, an internship at a company and that was the focus of her Fulbright project that would be a little less compelling. Candidates who want to do internships should couple them with study or research projects. There are other countries where affiliating with a company would just be dead in the water to start with. But, Spain, I think Nicole is probably going to be ok. Tony: OK, ah. Another question, from Kimberly. She says, “I’m hoping to apply for a full Fulbright grant to the U.K. where I want to study the history of immigration. I am confused from reading the website about the type of affiliation I need to have at the university in the U.K. Do I need to apply for a specific masters/PhD program, and then use the grant towards one year’s school if I were to get in?” Valerie It’s a common question for the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom does prefer candidates who intend to complete masters degrees and who are going into the first year of that masters degree at a British university. It’s actually really easy to do a one year masters degree at British universities. And anyone who is doing that should have a solid research project because just outlining a study project would not be competitive enough for the U.K. But the U.K. programs tend to be very independent research based. So it’s easy to do an independent research project and a study project. U.K. Fulbright Commission will still accept candidates proposing independent research without matriculating on a degree program, however, they do still insist that all candidates have academic affiliations, i.e. faculty members at academic institutions in the U.K. supervising the candidate. And British universities have a neat kind of category called visiting research student. A lot of the American Fulbrighters who go there who don’t matriculate but have to have an academic affiliation just register themselves with universities as visiting students. It’s kind of a unique category they have. So it works out for everybody. Tony: Alright, I think you co-hosting and answering the questions for the podcast was very interesting today. Valerie It worked out well, right? Much more of a flow! Tony: Absolutely. Well thank you for joining the podcast. Valerie: Thank you Tony. Tony: Alright. Thank you very much. Valerie: Thanks, bye bye. Tony: Bye.
Return to Main Page |
