PROGRAM HISTORY
September 1945. The war that had swept across the world, leaving few of its inhabitants untouched, had finally come to an end. Leaders of the victorious countries were searching for ways to pick up the pieces - to create, if at all possible, a more peaceful and prosperous future for all nations. A young U.S. Senator from the state of Arkansas, J. William Fulbright, had an idea.
“The prejudices and misconceptions which exist in every country regarding foreign people are the great barrier to any system of government. If, however the peoples of the world could get to know each other better, live together and learn side by side, maybe they would be more inclined to cooperate and less willing to go off and kill each other.”
Fulbright had travelled throughout Eastern Europe and had been at Oxford University in England as a Rhodes scholar, experiences that had broadened his horizons. From his time in England, he knew the value of educational exchanges firsthand. Fulbright imagined a program that would take in the whole world, with students from as many countries as possible studying - and living and getting to know the people - in Europe, Asia, Africa, the rest of the Western Hemisphere, and the Pacific.
The Fulbright Act was introduced to the US Congress in 1946, "…for the promotion of international goodwill through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science", and was passed by the Congress and signed on August 1, 1946, by President Harry S. Truman.
It was an ingenious piece of legislation. At the end of World War II, allied nations owed money to the United States for surplus American-owned aircraft, equipment and buildings. Senator Fulbright convinced the U.S. Government to allow these countries to keep the assets in exchange for contributing to the establishment of a local Fulbright Program.
In Australia, this equated to US$5.8 million and funded the Australian Program until 1964, when the Australian and U.S. Governments committed to fund its ongoing operation. The original binational treaty that established the Australian Fulbright Program in 1949 was the first treaty Australia ever signed with the United States and predates the ANZUS treaty.
The hallmark of the Fulbright Program is its binational nature. In every nation where the program thrives, it is the joint responsibility of the host-country government and the U.S. Government and it is administered through a shared voice, primarily a Fulbright Commission. Today's Fulbright scholars, students, and teachers are selected on the basis of academic merit and excellence reflecting the mutual interests of the partner nations. Since its inception in Australia over 2,500 Australians and 1,800 Americans have been recognised as Fulbright scholars and undertaken study and research in our respective countries.
At the heart of the Fulbright Program is the belief that free and responsible individuals can make a difference in the world, and it is the proper business of governments of free men and women to promote and encourage such possibilities. It is individuals who must decipher and map the world, interpreting its significance with others through inquiry and reflection.
Fulbright encompasses nearly every conceivable discipline in the arts and humanities, commerce and finance, science and technology, education, journalism, media, and government. It counts among its alumni distinguished men and women in every walk of life, at home and abroad. They include poets and presidents, Nobel Laureates and syndicated columnists, artists and business leaders, economists, physicians, actors, playwrights, financiers, and cabinet officials. Whatever the field of study or profession of its recipients, the Fulbright experience has enlarged and deepened the perspective of potential national and international leaders.
Today, the Fulbright Program is the world's largest binational education program, operating in over 150 countries.