Fulbright Program Adviser
Newsletter

Overview of Trends For Students Interested in Applying to the East Asia-Pacific Region

Fulbright Critical Language Enhancement Awards for the East Asia-Pacific region are available to candidates who wish to study Mandarin, Bahasa Indonesia or Korean before beginning their Fulbright projects.  Applicants to China (especially graduating seniors) are highly encouraged to apply for Critical Language Enhancement Awards.

Before beginning their Fulbright grants, students will receive intensive language training for up to six months in the host country.  The requirements of the grant include pre- and post-testing of the prospective Fulbrighter's knowledge of the language and a clearly defined commitment to continuing the study of the language after the initial training period.  There is the potential for additional languages to be added, so consult the website frequently for updates.

No Multi-Country Grants in Asia

In contrast to previous years, no multi-country applications will be accepted from candidates applying to the East Asia-Pacific region.  Also, since there are separate Fulbright Programs in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, a Fulbright proposal can only be for one of those programs.

Fulbright Opportunities in the South Pacific

For the first time in approximately 15 years, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is accepting applications for eight South Pacific Island Nations: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.  Given the remoteness and lack of supervisory resources in the region, candidates applying to any of these countries must be well-prepared to work independently and must demonstrate the requisite maturity to carry out the proposed project.  Given the special circumstances in this region, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program will award grants on a case-by-case basis and a specific number of offered awards has not been set.

Australia:

One Fulbright-ANU College of Business & Economics Postgraduate Scholarship is now available to Australia. The ANU College of Business & Economics, one of seven colleges which comprise the Australian National University, seeks to advance knowledge through high quality teaching and research in the related fields of accounting, actuarial studies, business information systems, econometrics, finance, international business, management marketing and statistics.

Applicants for the Fulbright-ANU College of Business & Economics Postgraduate Scholarship should develop applications in the fields of economics or business.  Candidates can propose to enroll in a graduate program at ANU or to carry out an independently-designed research or study project.

China:

The Fulbright Program in China received an all-time high of 175 applications for the 2009-2010 program year.  However, the quality of the applications submitted has not kept pace, which is why only 52 Fulbrighters are going to China this year.  Here are several common problem areas seen in proposed projects to China:

1) Language Skills: Candidates MUST have at least two years of college-level Mandarin or its equivalent (i.e., high - intermediate language skills) before the Fulbright grant term begins.  The language proficiency must include reading and writing skills, not just speaking and listening abilities.  Candidates with only the minimum language skills should apply for Critical Language Enhancement Awards in order to improve their competitiveness.

2) Feasibility: Many China applicants, particularly at the graduating senior level, submit proposals that demonstrate a lack of knowledge about what the research environment in China is like.  Assuming that one will have unfettered access to all pertinent information sources or that one would be able to easily carry out interviews as part of the proposed research is not realistic.  This is particularly true in less developed areas and in western China.  Candidates need to discuss their project designs with advisors in the U.S. with experience in China and to obtain affiliation letters from Chinese universities to demonstrate that there will be a host institution willing to work with them on their research.

3) Host Institutions: Candidates with bachelor's degrees at the beginning of the grant period are required to affiliate with Chinese universities and should plan to base their projects outside Beijing and Shanghai unless the project absolutely requires being based in one of those cities (see the Fulbright China Affiliation Guide for Graduating Seniors and Bachelor's-level Candidates).  Master's degree and Ph.D.-level applicants affiliate with either Chinese universities or other Chinese academic institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

Applicants should include affiliation letters with their Fulbright applications.  If a candidate is unable to obtain a letter by the application deadline, he or she needs to clearly explain the choice of affiliation in the project proposal.  Affiliation letters need to come from Chinese professors, not Americans teaching or carrying out research in China.  Candidates with a bachelor's at the beginning of the grant period are required to audit classes at their host institutions during the first terms of their grants, but the Fulbright U.S. Student Program will not support applicants proposing to enroll in Chinese graduate programs.

4) Grant Structure: Fulbright grants to China are designed for candidates who can carry out independent research or study projects.  They are not designed for individuals interested in working for NGOs or for those interested in pursuing graduate degrees in the People's Republic of China.  The Fulbright U.S. Student Program will not fund a candidate proposing a project in China which would have the individual spending a significant amount of time working on pre-existing ventures established by an NGO.  Volunteering somewhere for less than 10 hours a week can be acceptable so long as it does not detract from the independent research or study work that needs to be taking place, but it must be clear that the candidate does not work for or represent any other organization.

Fulbright in the East Asia-Pacific Region

Fulbright U.S. Student applications to the East Asia-Pacific region increased by more than 154% between the 2000 and 2009 competitions.  During this time, the number of Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) programs in the region increased from one to eight, and the proportion of applicants applying for ETA grants increased substantially.  In 2000, ETA applicants represented approximately 11% of the applicant pool to East Asia.  By 2009, the share of ETA applications had increased to over 43%.  While the proliferation of ETA program opportunities in East Asia has likely contributed to the decline in the relative number of Fulbright study or research applications to the region, the number of full grant applications to many East Asian programs has been noticeably stagnant.  Most of applicant interest tends to center on the regional heavyweights, China and Japan.  In addition, there are relatively few Southeast Asian Studies Programs at U.S. colleges and universities, even at campuses that have strong Asian Studies programs.  As a result, Fulbright application levels for grants in countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand significantly lag behind those of China and Japan.  Korea, Macau, and Mongolia also tend to receive very few applications.

One of the most pervasive myths about the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in East Asia is that an applicant must have prior knowledge of the host country language in order to be competitive for a Fulbright grant.  In fact, this is only true for the Fulbright study or research grants in China and Japan.  Because Mandarin Chinese and Japanese are the most commonly taught Asian languages in the United States, it is reasonable to assume that many candidates would have the chance to study the languages through undergraduate coursework or study abroad experiences.  However, courses in Bahasa Indonesia, Khmer, Mongolian, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese are not readily available to most Americans.  Applicants to countries where the local language is not commonly taught in the U.S., while not required to speak the language at the time of application, should include plans to study the language in the host country concurrent with their Fulbright research, and should attain a basic, hospitality level of language competence before departure from the U.S.

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) Programs in East Asia

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program currently offers eight ETA programs in East Asia: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.  A common feature of these ETA programs is that none of them require any prior experience with the host country or knowledge of the local languages.  In addition, ETA Fulbrighters are typically placed in schools outside of the major cities where there are fewer chances for students to interact with native English speakers.  ETA candidates need to convey a strong commitment to the intensive cultural immersion inherent in a program that places its grantees in teaching roles abroad.

Interest in the local culture, along with the pedagogical strategies that the applicants will bring to their classrooms, needs to come through in the Fulbright project proposal.  Plans for community involvement and/or small side projects can be helpful, but they cannot be location specific and must be feasible given the time constraints that teaching responsibilities will impose.

East Asia and the Arts

As with many other programs in the non-Western world, the Fulbright Programs in East Asia receive a low proportion of applications in the creative and performing arts (4.6% in 2009).  This is despite the fact that all of the programs in the region readily welcome projects in the arts and that East Asian cultures have innumerable artistic traditions - many of which are little known or completely unknown in the West.  Candidates in the arts should be encouraged to consider applying for Fulbright opportunities in East Asia since they often design projects that can be very individualized and more unique than some of those in traditional academic fields.

Final Notes

While the most popular countries in the East Asia-Pacific region continue to receive large numbers of applicants and are usually quite competitive, a number of countries are not drawing significant numbers of candidates, and there are a few countries where more grants could be offered to qualified candidates.  Laos, Macau, Malaysia and Mongolia fall into the latter category, and New Zealand is a country that has seen a significant decline in applications compared to the early part of the decade.

Building a Campus Network to Advise Undergraduate Fulbright Applicants

David Comp, FPA, The University of Chicago

Finally, we have created a network of faculty and other academic staff who have agreed to meet with prospective applicants to discuss their research interests and to give advice and direction on how to put together a competitive application.  We have found this process to be especially helpful for our students as they prepare their applications.

Applicant Evaluation Process: Pitfalls Related to Student Disabilities

More people with disabilities are learning about the Fulbright Program and are eager to benefit from these exchange opportunities like their non-disabled peers.  As applications from candidates with disabilities are submitted following campus deadlines, you can take steps to ensure that application materials are reviewed fairly and campus committee interviews are conducted in an accommodating manner.

Just as not all non-disabled individuals qualify for the Fulbright Program, not all disabled applicants will meet essential program requirements.  In order to determine this, you must provide reasonable and appropriate disability-related accommodations to ensure that people with disabilities have equal opportunities to demonstrate their qualifications.

Review your process to see if it is accessible to people with disabilities.  For example, in-person interviews should be located in a building that is accessible to people with mobility disabilities and information provided to candidates during the evaluation process should be in accessible formats.

Discuss with applicants what they will need in order to participate in an interview:

• A person who is hard of hearing may need committee members to visually indicate when they are about to speak. 
• A person with attention deficit disorder may need time to write down interview question to maintain focus. 

Review the application assessment process to clarify how eligibility is defined.

• For proof of foreign language mastery, deaf applicants may be appropriately excused from verbal fluency; the applicant, however, would be required to demonstrate proficiency in communicating in the host language through written communication or sign language.
• When considering requirements of good health, disability and health should be considered separate issues.  Most people with disabilities are not unhealthy or sick, and those with chronic illnesses often can maintain stable health with adequate preparations.

You may have answered an applicant's disability-related questions prior to the evaluation process. For legal and ethical reasons, do not share this information with the review committee.  While applicants may choose to volunteer disability information prior to applying, questions during an interview about what type of disability an individual has and what disability-related accommodations are needed for the program are illegal.  These questions are appropriate only after an individual has been accepted for an award.

Be explicit with committee members that qualified applicants should not be evaluated based on perceived limitations related to their disability or a feeling that the disability will be difficult to accommodate because of potential barriers in the country to which they have applied.

• An applicant with a speech disability may speak slowly or repeat words often, making it difficult for interviewers to make a connection in the brief time.
• A person with a vision or physical impairment may not give interviewers the eye contact or body language cues to which they are accustomed.

Equally important, you should inform reviewers of the Fulbright Program's commitment to provide disability-related accommodations after placement, as necessary.

With these considerations in place, all applicants regardless of disability will have an equal opportunity to become a Fulbright participant.

The National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (www.miusa.org/ncde) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by Mobility International USA.