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Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast

Transcript For: Fulbright U.S. Student Guidance Session, May, 2008. Q &A, Part 1

Fulbright U.S. Student Guidance Session, May, 2008. Questions & Answers, Part 1

Walter:             Alright let me introduce the program managers. Colleen Moffat is the Program manager for Central America and the Caribbean and also the Program Manager for the Critical Language Enhancement Award program. Jon Adler is the Program Manager for Europe and Eurasia. Jonathan Akeley is the Program Manager for the Asia Pacific Region and South Asia. Jody Dudderar is the Program Manager for South America, Mexico and Canada, and Jermaine Jones is the Program Manager for the Middle East and Africa.

                        Let’s start again in San Francisco and work our way back to New York. San Francisco do you have any country specific questions.

Question:          Hi, I’m applying to the Program in China. This is new since 2007, it was not in your booklet in 2007, it says that applications in the hard sciences are discouraged. Could you tell me the reasons for that?

Jonathan:          That is a preference of the US Embassy in Beijing. The Fulbright Program has had difficulty in working out placements for people who are strictly in the hard sciences. This is really a question that I would recommend you give me a call about because there are some fields particularly in Public Health or some of the Biological Sciences where it can be rather fungible whether a project is really in the hard sciences or more in the social sciences and there can be ways to devise proposals that would be acceptable, so I’d advise you to give me a call because it will take a little more discussion time than we have right now.

Question:          Thank you.

Question:          Hi my name is Jessica and I have a question about the European Union… country, I guess is what it’s called. Can you give me an example of the types of projects that people have done and where? I’m a little unclear as to what exactly people do for the European Union.

Jon:                  That I can’t give you exactly, I mean, you can go to our webpage and you can find some project titles if you look in our alumni directory, it will say a project name.

Question:          I had a question that I wanted to ask earlier. Can you apply to the Fulbright Program if you are abroad?

Jonathan:          Yes, you could do that.

Theresa:           It depends on the country. There are some countries where if you are in the country you are ineligible. OK, so just be careful. Look at the country summary.

Question:          If you’re applying to another country…

Theresa:           If you’re applying to another country? Oh yes, that’s fine. If you’re applying to a third country that’s fine.

Question:          I have a question. Hi, I’m Annie. I’m applying to South Korea’s program in the arts and I was wondering… it says that a lot of institutes will host you and I was wondering, when making the affiliation is it best to contact the admissions office or the professors?

Jonathan:          What would make most sense would be to find the person who would actually be advising you and working with you on your project. The admissions office would have no idea what you were talking about. So, if you were going to do a project in painting or a specific artistic style in Korea, I mean, you should find some one who works on that and can advise you on your project and also speak to the kind of feasibility of the project that you’re proposing.

Theresa:           That’s pretty good advice for most countries, actually.

Question:          I wanted to repeat my question from previously. How does one bring 6 months of the Critical Language Enhancement Award together with an academic program that would start in the fall?

Colleen:            This year, for the first year, you have the option of completing up to 4 months of your Critical Language Enhancement Award concurrently with your Fulbright Project. So if you were applying and you wanted to have a 6 month Critical Language Enhancement Award and start your Fulbright Project in the fall, you would go overseas in the summer, have two months of intensive language study, and then begin your Fulbright project say in September, and then you would have 4 months of tutoring at a minimum of 10 hours per week while doing your Fulbright project.

Question:          Thank you.

Queston:           I have one more question. I was looking at your program in Germany for fine artist, or arts in general and I’m applying for a program in film and I saw on the website for Germany that you’re required to submit a DVD less than 6 minutes in length in relation to the project. Is that correct? If you haven’t started filming the project?

Walter:             You know, I think what they are trying to get at here and this is one of the things that’s important to the film committee as well, is if you are a documentary film maker, you better make sure that the samples that you submit for their review are documentary films. Don’t send in art films if you want to go make a documentary film. They want to see examples in your work that relate to the project that you’re proposing.

Question:          I have one more question about the Critical Language Award. If you’re fluent conversationally in the language are you still eligible for the Critical Enhancement Award if it’s more specific to the area of study that you want to deal with?

Colleen:            You would be… I’m sorry, do you want to finish the last part of your question?

Question:          It’s just that there are certain vocabularies and certain ways of speaking for certain studies, so.

Colleen:            You can use the Critical Language Enhancement Award for specific vocabulary study, or a lot of people may be fluent conversationally, but they don’t really have high levels of reading and writing skills. So, the term “enhancement” is really what we’re looking for so you should have some background in the language, and even if you have a high level background, you can always work towards improving. So you would be still eligible.

Walter:             Denver? Any country specific questions?

Question:          Hi, my name is Travis and I have a question regarding affiliation with UK applications. I’m seeking to do post-graduate research at a specific university in Scotland, St. Andrews University, because of certain faculty members there and an institute they have there. How does that work in regards to filling out a Fulbright application if you have a… I don’t just want to study anywhere in the UK but at a specific institution with specific faculty.

Jon:                  I recommend contacting one of those faculty members at St. Andrews and having them produce a letter of affiliation for you stating… I mean we have tips on how to produce those on our webpage and also in the book, but just something along the lines of, assuming you were awarded the Fulbright grant, they’d provide resources, mentor you, or provide support while you were in the host country.

Question:          Hi, I have a question for Colleen about the Guatemala program. The projects begin any time between August and March, but the academic year is between January and November. I’m wondering how important it is to make your project correspond with the academic year, knowing that I’m not going to be affiliated with any academic institution. Is there any preference for that?

Colleen:            No, there wouldn’t be a strong preference, you’d just need to state where your project proposal will be focusing and then why you would want to not be affiliated with the academic year, but… if you’re not being affiliated with an academic institution, it’s fine, the schedule should just suit the best needs for having a successful project.

Question:          Hi, this is Steven. I just want to make sure I understand completely the multi-country option. And if I understand right, all regions of the world except Western Europe you can apply for that. Does that include places like Southeast Asia where there are individual country boards, say Thailand and Vietnam. Could you apply for a multi-country project in Thailand and Vietnam?

Walter:             Do you have a copy of the brochure there Steven?

Question:          Yes I do.

Walter:             Refer to pages 20 and 21.

Theresa:           Jonathan will answer your question specifically, but I want to point out to you that if you apply for a multi-country award, you’re putting yourself in double or triple jeopardy because your application will have to be reviewed in each of the countries to which you apply. You will have to be selected by each of the countries to which you apply. You will have to get research clearance in each of the countries to which to apply. And it’s not an easy process. So just keep that in mind.

Jonathan:          And just to follow up on what Theresa was saying, actually, in the countries you mentioned, multi-country applications tend to get lowest priority out of all the applications they review because the individual countries, the Fulbright Commission or the Embassy, with the budgets they have, they want to support candidates who are going to be in their respective countries for the duration of the grant. And so, while you technically can apply, the chances are pretty slim, it’s fairly rare that we get any multi-country applications approved for Southeast Asia.

Question:          Thank you.

Walter:             Another question? Washington DC? Country specific questions please.

Question:          My name is Paul. I have a question about affiliations. I’m thinking of applying in the Caribbean region to do a project on economic integration. Would it be best to apply to be affiliated with a university or with several umbrella institutions that operate in the Caribbean?

Colleen:            Well, it would depend on which country in the Caribbean you’re thinking of. There’re different rules for each of them.

Question:          Trinidad.

Colleen:            In Trinidad? I believe, if I remember correctly, for Trinidad it’s not necessary.

Question:          My question is regarding… I’m interested in South America and there seems to be in a lot of these countries, I think, what are considered sensitive issues, and I am not at all clear what sensitive issues wouldn’t be covered and why they wouldn’t be covered. I mean, it is research that you’re undertaking, and it seems that any  sort of research that can broaden our understanding of an issue could be supportable and yet there’s definitely country specific… but it’s not clear to me how to understand …

Jody:                If they… I understand , I understand your question. If a country says, “we will not entertain projects in trafficking, or drug related violence issues,” they will not entertain projects in trafficking or drug related issues. It’s their decision, mainly having to do with issues of safety and security in carrying out research surrounding certain topics. The why of it generally has to do with security. So that’s your question why. If your question is “will they entertain them?” if they say, “no, they’re not going to,” they’re not going to. So my recommendation is stay away from those if they suggest it.

                        Sensitive issues, politically sensitive issues is a whole other ballgame and particularly in Latin America there are some issues that are politically sensitive and if you’re doing research in the area, if you’re knowledgeable about the region, you know what they are. It doesn’t mean that you can’t undertake a project in that area, but it does mean you’re going to have to make a very compelling argument for your credentials to carry out a project in a politically or culturally sensitive area. You do it in the way you present your project, your methodology, your references will probably refer to your ability to deal with these issues, and to deal with them effectively. So just because a topic is politically sensitive or culturally sensitive doesn’t mean it can’t be done, unless they specifically tell you, it just means you have to go that extra step to make sure that it’s very clear that you’re capable of carrying it out.

Question:          Is there some little light that you can shine on what some of those sensitive issues would be for Peru?

Jody:                As I said, if you’re familiar with an area, you’re going to know what they are. If you’re concerned about your particular project, give me a call or send me an email and we’ll discuss them. Cause yes, there are sensitive area in Peru.

Question:          Hi, yes, my name’s Josh, I’m looking to apply in Belgium at a Flemish institution. But my question is, would French and Dutch be sufficient, French or Dutch, be sufficient even though the institution I’m applying to is in a Flemish region.

Theresa:           If they teach in Flemish, you better speak Flemish.

Question:          They teach in English there actually.

Jon:                  Yes, you’d be fine then.

Question:          Yes, hi, I’m Brett. Regarding the Critical Language Enhancement, is that a program for which you’d need to have an affiliation already established in that country before you apply or is that a program into which Fulbright places you?

Colleen:            No, you don’t need an affiliation but you need to have identified a school or a language program that you’d like to attend and there’s a list on the website of approved language institutions for each of the countries where the Critical Language Enhancement Award is available. And, also if you have a school that’s not approved, you can present it and it can be reviewed.

Question:          And … I’m sorry to do a follow up… do you need to have spoken with those institutions before-

Colleen:            No. Unless, you need to check to see if they have deadlines for registration and for sending in your application. You need to make if there’s related deadlines to that program that you’ve enrolled beforehand.

Question:          Hi, I’m Aditi and I have a question about the UK awards. I was wondering… it says in the book that one can apply to multiple universities, and so I was wondering how you deal with affiliation if you’re looking at a couple of different universities.

Jon:                  That’s true. It would be possible you could submit more than one letter of affiliation with your application. So if you’re applying to a few schools and want to get letters from both schools, or three schools, that’s fine.

Question:          Also about the UK application I just noticed in the booklet it says university partnerships, and there are a couple art institutions listed. And it’s kind of ambiguous as to whether the UK is really fond of fine arts applicants, or if specifically that’s what they’re looking for. Are they?

Jon:                  Yeas, I mean they do fund arts grantees every year. It’s just, it’s based on quality so…

Question:          If Fulbright doesn’t currently have a relationship with a country of interest, is there a way to propose a project to the region.

Jon:                  What country?

Question:          Cuba.

Jon:                  Not happening anytime soon.

Question:          Hi, my name is Whitney and I’m applying to Egypt for a study grant, but I see that it says in the book, “16 Fulbright full research grants.” My study grant would also encompass, obviously my project would have some research component to it, but I didn’t know if there was not going to be any tuition assistance because it’s for research.

Jermaine:          You should take that to mean a research and/or study grant as opposed to the 8 that have been set aside for people that want to focus solely on Arabic language study. So that would be fine.

Question:          Hi, my name is Karen. I’m applying for a grant to go to Israel to do a research project. And I noticed that Hebrew is not one of the languages included in the Critical Language Enhancement. What other language acquisition or improvement options are there for grantees?

Jermaine:          OK, would Hebrew be vital for your project, or…

Question:          I’m actually doing a project with Ethiopian immigrants, so they speak Amharic, but I’m not going to learn that, so Hebrew would probably be the most beneficial.

Jermaine:          Well, I believe that the Fulbright Commission does provide funding for people that want to do ulpans, either during the summer prior to or during the course of the grant period itself, so that would be an option for you. Learning Amharic in the country, I don’t know if they could provide you with any assistance for that. I think it’s pretty much just for Arabic or Hebrew in Israel, but you might be able to work something out on your own.

Question:          Hebrew should be sufficient. But should I emphasize in my application that I’m interested in that, the ulpan option?

Jermaine:          Absolutely, absolutely.

Question:          Great, thank you.

Question:          Hi, my name’s Andrew. I’m curious about applying to Ecuador and it says here that instead of getting an affiliation with a university, you could do some kind of program with an NGO perhaps. What do you recommend to keep in mind, or to understand about setting up an affiliation with an NGO rather than an educational institution.

Jody:                Just to be clear, affiliations are very much project dependent. And the purpose of an affiliation is to provide you, the grantee, with a level of support that you need to adequately and effectively carry out your project. In many cases, an academic affiliation makes the most sense because you’re doing research and you’ll have access to either research materials or research people who will help guide it. NGOs, if you’re affiliating with an NGO, it’s because that NGO can provide you access to your resources, whether they be people or other organizations. So the purpose of the affiliation, the advice about the affiliation, is to select one and then demonstrate how they’re going to provide you that support and how they’re going to be valuable to you in providing that support.