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Fulbright Program: U.S. Applicant Podcast

Transcript For: Jermaine Jones, Manager of Sub-Saharan Africa

Jermaine Jones, Manager of the Fulbright Program for Sub-Saharan Africa, discusses the program in the region with Schuyler Allen.

Schuyler:          Hello and welcome to the Fulbright US Student Program Applicant podcast. I’m Schuyler Allen, your host, and today I’m joined with my colleague Jermaine Jones and we’re going to talk a little bit about applying to Sub-Saharan Africa. Welcome Jermaine.

Jermaine:          Hello. Good to be here.

Schuyler           Well, there’s a lot of popularity and interest in your region. You want to tell us what’s new?

Jermaine:          I’ll speak about something first that’s not new to this particular upcoming academic year but it’s still relatively new in terms of the overall program, and that’s the establishment of three ETA, or English Language Teaching Assistantship Programs. They were first established last year in Sub-Saharan Africa in three countries, Cameroon, Madagascar, and South Africa. And the same three countries are available in terms of ETA awards for the coming 2010-2011 academic year as well. We have three awards that we expect to offer for Cameroon, that is a slight change from what you may have seen in the hard copy brochure because we added that additional award, from 2 to 3 I should say, over the past few weeks if I’m not mistaken, and again 1 for Madagascar, and I think it’s 4 for South Africa, so those numbers remain unchanged. And again that’s one thing to highlight because it’s again, something that’s relatively new in this world region. The other bit of news is a bit of a disappointment but not surprising if you’re keeping up with the current events in that region and that’s the recent closure of the program in Zimbabwe. I would assume that the events there would depress the application numbers anyway but I just got word today that that country is no longer going to be accepting applications, at least for the foreseeable future, so-

Schuyler:          What if I’m an applicant and I had my heart set on applying to Zimbabwe. What would you recommend to those candidates. Which country would you suggest they apply to instead.

Jermaine:          Well I would really suggest that they try to stay within the region. Sub-region I should say, in Southern Africa as much as possible. I would assume that there may be projects that are transferable to neighboring countries such as Mozambique, if you know Portuguese, Zambia as well. So… yeah, I know that some topics might be highly specific to a specific region or location, but if there’s any flexibility they should know they have other options.

Schuyler:          So, you talk about applying to these different countries, so do you want to lay out, basically, let’s say I wanted to apply to one country- what’s the number of grants that are on offer to these countries and which are the most popular ones.

Jermaine:          Number of grants first, because this gets to a question that there seems to be some confusion about the whole regional program and I’ll try to nip that in the bud as much as I can now. Sub-Saharan Africa is a regional program in the sense that we have a fixed number of awards that we expect to offer for the region as a whole. As you’ve seen in the brochures as well as on the website, that number, I believe, is 55, not including the 8 for South Africa as well as the, I think it’s 8 total, ETA awards for the region. But 55 awards for full grants for all of the other countries, South Africa excluded, in the region. There is no individual country quota which means that we will try to distribute these 5 awards as evenly as we can among the various countries in the region that receive qualifying applications.

Schuyler:          So, basically, let’s say I’m applying to one country, I shouldn’t worry so much about the numbers, I should just go ahead and apply to that country on the understanding that there’s going to be a set amount of funding set to that country for grants to that country.

Jermaine:          Generally speaking, you could say that, yes. It would really depend on whether or not we received any qualifying application for it. In other words, a country like Togo, a small country like that might receive just one application and that’s fine. But if the committees in the United States or in Togo itself do not like that person, it’s their prerogative to say no.

Schuyler:          Right. So that said, it’s small country Togo, what are some of the more popular countries in the region that you tend to see the most applications to?

Jermaine:          You can pretty much guarantee that this is a worldwide thing actually, but any Anglophone, any primarily English speaking country, that’s fairly stable politically is going to be widely subscribed to as far as U.S. Student applications, and the same is true for Sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa is by far and away the big boy on the block in terms of applications received. It usually averages between 90 and 100 if not more applications, that’s been the one figure over the past 8 – 10 years now and I see no reason why that would not be the same for the next academic year. Other countries that are popular in the region: Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya as well. There was some recent unrest a couple of years ago, but I think there’s a visible rebound for Kenya as things there, you know,

Schuyler:          stabilize.

Jermaine:          Exactly, exactly right. One other country actually, that’s Senegal, in terms of non-Anglophone countries, and to a lesser degree Mali. But I’d say that those two are the big draws in terms of non-English speaking countries.

Schuyler:          Where would you like to see more applications within that region?

Jermaine:          Well, I would say that people interested in applying to South Africa should really consider whether or not their research could be transferable, in other words doable in a neighboring country, another Southern African country. That’s not to say that we don’t want people in South Africa, we understand why it’s a popular draw, but just given the numbers—

Schuyler:          Lesotho.

Jermaine:          Lesotho, absolutely. Swaziland. Namibia. Zimbabwe. If they know Portuguese, Mozambique is certainly an option. I bring those countries up just because the numbers for South Africa can be quite daunting. Numbers in terms of applications received relative to what we expect to offer awards for. So given that, they might want to think about a neighboring country to increase their chances.

Schuyler:          You talked about these programs being regional, but let’s say I wanted to do a regional project, my project would jump from country to country to conduct a certain kind of research and to do something comparative. Would that be something I could do, or no?

Jermaine:          That’s a definite no no. And that is something I forgot to write down… thank you Schuyler. That’s one other development that’s new for the entire Sub-Saharan Africa region this year. Previous years, we would accept applications, what we’d call multi-country applications from candidates, meaning it would be a single application and would involve a project, single project that you would carry out in more than one country in the same region. For example, someone would submit an application involving research that they would carry out in, let’s say, Nigeria and Ghana. This year, 2010-2011, is the first year in which such applications are no longer going to be accepted to this world region.

Schuyler:          Big change.

Jermaine:          Enormous change. Thanks for reminding me about it.

Schuyler:          Spontaneous.

Jermaine:          In other words that means you can only submit a single application involving a single project to be carried out for the entire grant duration in that one country.

Schuyler:          OK. Copious note taking...

                        On the topic of applications, and putting one together, what fields, I mean, Fulbright is all fields of study, I think I’m going to say that in probably every podcast this season, so that that point gets hammered home, but are there particular fields of study you tend to see a preponderance of in the region?

Jermaine:          Absolutely, in Sub-Saharan Africa the most widely subscribed fields are public health and anthropology and that’s been true I’d say the past 5, 6 if not more years. But that is not to say that other fields of study, academic, artistic, are not encouraged.

Schuyler:          Perhaps you’d like to see more?

Jermaine:          Absolutely, absolutely. And there certainly may be countries that have preferences for certain fields or that might indicate in their country summary somewhere that certain fields, or parts of the country are off limits or not recommended. So you should certainly abide by those. But generally speaking if a country does not indicate any kind of preferences or limitations, that means that the world is pretty much the limit, the sky is the limit.

Schuyler:          Right, right, right.

Jermaine:          Watch that metaphor there.

                        And another thing that people might want to consider doing as well is to go to the website and visit the online directory that we have of current, I guess it’s previous U.S. Fulbright grantees. People search by country and that’ll give them a sense of the kinds of projects that have been funded in, I guess, the past 10 – 15 years or so.

Schuyler:          That’s an excellent piece of advice for people to familiarize themselves with… on the topic of applications and qualifications, are there preferences let’s say for recently graduating seniors or more towards, I mean depending upon the country and type of project, what are the preferences?

Jermaine:          It really depends on the country I have to say, in terms of degree level preferences or qualifications. Generally speaking, most countries in the region are willing to accept applications from qualified candidates at any degree level, bachelors, masters, or PhD I should say. There are two in the region that are only open to candidates at the masters and doctoral level and those are Rwanda and Sierra Leone. There are a few others that are only open to doctoral level students and those are the two congos, Republic of Congo, Brazzaville, and the big one, DRoC, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Kinshasa. Other countries in the region are poen, again, to candidates at all degree levels, BA through doctorate.

Schuyler:          The sky’s the limit, once again.

                        So, we talked about applications a little bit, talked about preferences, and fields of study. And, what are these programs really looking for in a successful applicant?

Jermaine:          I think that the main thing is going to be quality of the proposal, clearly laid out in what’s going to be the lynchpin of the application, the project statement. That’s really got to be as tight as it can possibly be.

Schuyler:          And fit for the country.

Jermaine:          Exactly, in terms of fit with the country. Being well conceived and well thought out in terms of methodology and rationale. It’s got to be feasible as well, it’s got to make sense for the country, as you just mentioned, and also be doable. Just given the time limits of the grants, ten months is the standard for sub-Saharan African countries. And I would also say feasible in the sense that the candidate has to have the background operation needed to carry out the project.

Schuyler:          Let’s break that down a little bit. What does that mean? I mean, does that mean coming from an academic background or can it come from other things such as employment, or…

Jermaine:          It could be both actually. I mean clearly it would help if a person had coursework that was relevant to what they want to do. That would include things such as language training. It would also include things such as research methods courses. And clearly if someone was applying in the field of anthropology or public health, it would be assumed that they would have on their academic record a good amount of coursework in those relevant fields. But it could also, in lieu of that, be experience, preparation that was obtained in some other way, such as through employment experience or things of that nature.

Schuyler:          A nice tight little combination.

Jermaine:          That would be the ideal, absolutely.

Schuyler:          OK. I’m getting a sense of what’s required. I’m thinking about applying, and I’m trying to get all the pieces together for the application, and we’ve talked about, we’ve talked about on a cursory level the application, but how would I go about establishing, let’s say, affiliation or acquiring one of the languages to speak—if it’s not an Anglophone country—what advice would you give the applicant?

Jermaine:          Affiliation is tough for sub-Saharan Africa because this is one of the world regions where it’s really up to the applicant or grantee to take the lead and secure their own affiliation. And it’s a difficult region to work with, I know, but it has been done in the past, obviously. So it’s difficult but not impossible. There are a few possibilities that I would throw out for people. First of all, they should always check the country summary.

Schuyler:          The first rule of thumb.

Jermaine:          Exactly. Because there are some summaries that give suggestions or guidance about appropriate institutions. They may not actually give out specific names or email addresses, but they’ll give you the names of the institutions at least and you can certainly go online and go to work from there with google or other internet providers. The internet may also be a good place to look. Before I came down here I actually just for the fun of it typed up university Botswana, university Senegal in google and I came up with a lot of information. So a lot of basic things like that—

Schuyler:          Start general, get specific.

Jermaine:          Yeah, you’d be surprised. People who are enrolled or who are recent graduates should certainly be in touch with their professors, former or current who might have connections somewhere on the continent. That’s certainly an excellent way to establish contact with people. They might also think about their fellow students-

Schuyler:          Or alumni from their institution.

Jermaine:          Exactly. People who may be from the continent or have connections to people or institutions there. Absolutely use them. One final thing, you just brought it to my mind, and that was referring to academic journals because sometimes they’re written by or refer to scholars.

Schuyler:          Professors know each other.

Jermaine:          That’s exactly right. Use those networks. Absolutely.

Schuyler:          And persistence pays off in the end.

Jermaine:          That’s a very good point actually. You may have to wait a while. You might send an email one day and you might have to wait maybe a couple of weeks, a month or so, before you get  response. Remember where you’re going and patience is a virtue. But stick in there, be persistent as Schuyler said, snd it normally does pay dividends.

Schuyler:          I think that in this country, we’re all, for the most part, accustomed to instant gratification and I think that sometimes there’s a different pace with responsiveness in different countries and something you just need to attune yourself to. Would that be something…

Jermaine:          That is an excellent point, very well put.

Schuyler:          Also, too, just in terms of engaging with another culture, we talked about research and work, and I think people probably have the impression that they can go to that country and they can engage in research, but shouldn’t it be two ways, that the country also perhaps gains something from your time there as well? So, would you encourage community service or some sort of project in addition that you might want to take on?

Jermaine:          Absolutely. I think that everyone should keep in mind that the Fulbright program, this Fulbright program, it really has as it’s underlying or overarching principle, cultural exchange. So certainly people may have very specific research agendas in mind, especially people at the doctoral level, you might want to go in, do the research, keep their nose on the grindstone, and then head out of there. But they’ve got to also bear in mind that a large part of what we want every Fulbrighter to get out of their experience is this whole cultural exchange element. So, they should absolutely try to factor that in to their overall project statements and that could be in terms of a side volunteer activity, in terms of working with an NGO, it could be in terms of something as simple as being willing to engage in… I don’t know- pick up games of soccer with neighborhood kids once the archives close on weeknights or weekends or whatever. So, the sky’s the limit. Keep using that expression.

Schuyler:          It’s a favorite this broadcast.

Jermaine:          There are a lot of different ways for people to express in their applications that they’re going to get out there and get involved with their host communities and engage in meaningful ways.

Schuyler:          And I think that that also implies on some level, some level of independence is expected of successful candidates as well.

Jermaine:          Absolutely. You’ve really got to think about this world region as well, and again I think that what you’re saying about independence and charity, that’s got to apply across the board regardless of what degree level you’re applying to. You’ll get a fair amount of support from the U.S. embassy in your host country, as well as I would assume, from your host institution, your affiliate institution. Consider where in the world you’re going to be applying to, where you’ll be be for 10 months, and keep in mind that the charity and independence is something that will be called for, will be necessary.

Schuyler:          Great, any other additional points, any country summary information that you’d like to highlight before we close?

Jermaine:          Not that I can think of, but I would want to bring up just a few points about the language issue because you mentioned that and I don’t think I got to that before.  First of all, people who are applying to English speaking countries really should not assume that English alone will be sufficient for what they want to do. They’re really going to want to think through very carefully about the nature of their research as well as who they’ll be working with and living with and whether or not those people, those communities will know English or want to use English. And if not they’re going to want to think about strategies for acquiring some of the indigenous language, ideally before they head out but certainly during the course of the grant term. Those going to French or Portuguese speaking countries, they should have options galore for at least acquiring some knowledge of those languages before they head overseas. Indigenous languages? Those people who have wide course offerings in terms of languages at their U.S. institution, are certainly in luck. I know that Swahili is fairly commonly taught in the United States. Not every school, but there are some. They may also be able to enlist the support of native speakers of that language who they know in the Unites States. Sometimes there are web based or print resources in terms of text books, they may be fairly hard to find, but they may be there for some languages. You never know. If it’s simply not possible to begin learning one of the indigenous languages before you arrive overseas, then you can certainly indicate in your proposal, or application I should say, what your plan would be for beginning to acquire some during the first few months of the grant term, or perhaps throughout the entire grant term. But people should bear in mind that Fulbright will not provide any extra funding to cover in country language training.

Schuyler:          Right, right. But let’s say Arabic. Certainly there’s opportunities to undertake a Critical Language Enhancement Award.

Jermaine:          Yeah, but those aren’t offered for any sub-Saharan African countries so…

Schuyler:          Good point, good point. And Swahili is not one of the languages.

Jermaine:          I’m afraid not.

Schuyler:          Some excellent points and a lot of wonderful information. And, I think one of the others things besides the sky’s the limit, is to check the website for updates and information.

Jermaine:          Absolutely. That’s very important actually because this is a very fluid, dynamic program so we do post updates, unfortunately almost on a weekly basis, so do check the website. That’s the most, I think, valuable resource that you’ll have in terms of getting started,

Schuyler:          Excellent, thank you so much Jermaine for your time.

Jermaine:          Thank you Schuyler.