Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast
Transcript For: Info Session: Near East and North Africa
August 13, 2007
Program Managers answer questions on the Fulbright Program in the Near East and North Africa. Recorded at the June 6, 2007 Information Session.
Valerie: Hi, this is Valerie Hymas Tony: And Tony Claudino Valerie: And we’re here, and we want to announce the questions and answer session for the most recent U.S. student guidance session Tony: And so, if you couldn’t make it to any of the six locations that were having these info sessions, here’s a chance to listen to some of the Q & A we have for these sessions. Q: I’m interested in applying for a scholarship to Bahrain and my question is regarding community engagement in the host country during the scholarship and I wanted to know if that type of involvement needs to be related to the proposal or if it’s just a general desire. A: It’s a general desire. Q: I meant like is it, for the committee, will they be looking for the applicant to show that they’re going to be involved in the community as it relates to their project or just in general? A: Either way, I mean I think that they really want you to get out in your host community in Bahrain and get involved in something as an applicant, either in terms of your project or it can be some thing completely extracurricular. But as long as you’re out there and getting to know Bahraini people, connection with the project or otherwise, that’s all that matters. Q: I’m thinking about applying for a scholarship to Syria. I just would like to note first off that I did not see the number indicated of Fulbright grants under the Syria section. But my question is, if it’s possible to study refugee populations inside the host country, I mean, I understand, in Syria specifically politically sensitive, culturally sensitive issues are discouraged. But if I say want to engage and interact with the Iraqi refugee population inside Damascus, is that something that’s going to be possible? A: First of all, in regards to the number of grants to Syria, Syria’s part of the Near East North Africa regional program, which means, as Jody mentioned earlier, there’s no specific number of grants offered to non-commission countries in that particular region. We’d expect to offer I’d say about 32 grants for the region as a whole for the coming academic year and we’ll try to ??? the grants as evenly as possible among the different countries in the region, again, not including the commissioned countries. With regard to your other question, that’s a tough one actually. Syria, as you know, tends to discourage projects that deal with the modern social sciences. That doesn’t mean that what you want to do, dealing in some aspect with the Iraqi refugee population in Syria will be completely off limits. But I’d be very careful in terms of how you go about wording and crafting your proposal because if it’s in any way sensitive or hits upon red flags that are you know politically, socially, or you know culturally hot button issues, you could get into some trouble with that, so you know, I don’t know if you’re a student now, or will be a student this coming fall, but you may want to keep in touch with your advisors or professors who might have expertise in the region or with the region. And they might be able to give some good advice in terms of avoiding those kinds of red flag, hot button issues, OK? Q: I’m applying to Jordan. I was wondering if the Islamic Civilizations Initiative was still up and running? Or… A: It’s not actually. Q: It’s gone? A: It’s gone. It was discontinued starting with the 2008 – 2009 academic year. So you can only apply for a regular Fulbright to Jordan. Valerie: And that’s it for the questions some candidates have asked us during one of our guidance sessions. Please remember that if you have a question, feel free to email us, or contact us. Our information is all online. Tony: And, look for the next podcast. Thanks.
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