Fulbright Program Adviser
Newsletter

Applying to Sub-Saharan Africa - Highlights and Updates for the 2011-2012 Academic Year

Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship Program

For the 2011-2012 academic year, it is anticipated that five Fulbright-Fogarty fellowships will be offered in five Sub-Saharan African countries.  These awards, offered in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have been established to promote the expansion of research in public health and clinical research in resource-limited settings.  All awards will last 12 months, with 10 months required at the overseas site, and carry full grant award benefits.

Degree requirements, research focus, and affiliation vary by country and are outlined in the country summaries for Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.  Please check the Fulbright/Fogarty Fellowships website for additional details.

English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) Programs

Two English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) grants are now available to Rwanda.  Unlike research/study grants to Rwanda, to which only Master’s and doctoral candidates may apply, applicants at all degree levels are eligible.

The Rwanda ETA grants are similar to those offered to Cameroon and South Africa.  ETA candidates for these countries must convey a strong commitment to the intensive cultural immersion inherent in a program that places its grantees in assistant-teaching positions abroad.  Interest in the local culture, along with the pedagogical strategies that the applicant intends to employ in the classroom, must be outlined 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.

Region-Wide Considerations

Fulbright U.S. Student applications to Sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled between 2000 and 2010.  Although not at the same rate, the number of grants awarded has also increased.  The development of the ETA programs has helped to promote applicant interest and boost grant numbers in recent years, while the number of research/study grants has remained relatively stagnant for the past two competition cycles.

Twenty-five countries in the region accept research/study applications from candidates at all degree levels.  In Rwanda and Sierra Leone, only students at the Master's and doctoral level can apply for research/study awards.  A handful of countries (namely the Democratic Republic of Congo - formerly Zaire - and the Republic of Congo) accept applications on a case-by-case basis, but only from Ph.D.-level candidates.  (The varying degree-level requirements among different countries in the region are due mostly to the preferences of the U.S. Embassies in those countries.  These Embassies are often minimally-staffed, and are, therefore, only able to accommodate more mature researchers capable of working independently.)  A number of countries are unable to accept Fulbright U.S. Student applications at this time, although we hope this changes in the future.

Most Sub-Saharan African countries are open to projects in a wide range of fields of study.  Candidates should check the relevant country summaries for further guidance regarding fields or subjects that may be preferred or not recommended.

While approximately 70 awards are offered to this region each year, it is important to note that each Sub-Saharan country (except for South Africa) does not have a pre-determined number of grants available.  Instead, grants are distributed as widely as possible among the various countries that receive recommended candidates in order to assure a good geographic distribution.

Finally, several countries have research clearance requirements.  In these cases, Fulbrighters must usually have their clearances by the time they are ready to begin their research in the host country.  Clearances are generally not required by the Fulbright application deadline, but the clearance application and review process can be lengthy.  For some countries, candidates might consider applying for clearances early - perhaps at the same time they submit their Fulbright applications - with the understanding that they should not pay any fees before receiving notification about the final status of their Fulbright candidacy.

Institutional Affiliation

Candidates for research/study awards should understand that the process of securing an institutional affiliation is solely their responsibility.  They should read the 'Affiliation' section of the relevant country summary for more guidance.  Affiliations ideally should be with institutions (colleges and universities, government ministries, research institutes, archives, museums, etc.) based in the host country.  Affiliations may also be possible with the local African office of a multi-national organization, as long as its personnel are primarily from the host country and are not Americans and other expatriates.  Candidates should ask to have this point emphasized in their letters of affiliation.

Language Considerations

Even though English, French, and Portuguese are the official languages of nearly all the Sub-Saharan African countries with Fulbright programs, applicants should think through carefully their projects' requirements and objectives and how far knowledge of these languages alone will take them.  Since many African languages are not commonly taught in the U.S., prior knowledge is not typically required at the time of application (although it may be recommended in some cases).  Applicants with projects requiring knowledge of an indigenous African language should make every effort to begin learning it before the intended start of their grants and have some working knowledge of it at the time of application.  At minimum, applicants should include plans for studying the language in the host country and/or enlist the assistance of translators.  Keep in mind that the research allowance is minimal, and may not fully cover these costs.

People seeking evaluations in less commonly taught languages (e.g., Hausa, Wolof, Xhosa) should try to get them done by college/university-level instructors.  If such an instructor is not available, it is acceptable to have the evaluations done by native speakers with at least a bachelor’s degree.

Focus on South Africa

South Africa remains the most popular - and thus most competitive - country in the region.  Roughly 100 applications to South Africa have been received each year over the past few competitions, and of these, only about eight research/study grants are awarded annually.  South Africa's popularity can be attributed to several factors including: the quality of its higher education system and research centers, the fact that English may be sufficient for some projects, and the country’s solid track record of awarding grants in a range of academic and artistic disciplines.  Given the high ratio of applications received to grants awarded, candidates interested in South Africa might want to consider some of its less competitive neighbors such as Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland if they could carry out their projects in one of these countries.

One final point to consider: the South African Fulbright Program is very interested in promoting geographic diversity in terms of where Fulbrighters are placed.  A large percentage of applicants to South Africa are interested in the Western Cape region.  Unless it is absolutely imperative that candidates be located there, they should consider whether their projects could be conducted in other provinces or cities.

Channeling Students' Passion into Fulbright Applications

Dominic G. Caristi, Fulbright Program Adviser at Ball State University

Previously, Ball State's Fulbright Program Adviser was a staff member in the university’s International Programs office.  The duties were more those of a facilitator and very little was done in the way of recruitment of qualified candidates.  As a faculty member, my approach to recruiting students for Fulbright has been markedly different.  Instead of recruiting students based on an interest in travel, I’ve been trying to find scholars who find the prospect of a year overseas as fascinating.  Each spring, I send an e-mail to graduate students and high GPA undergraduates (although there are no GPA requirements to apply to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program), inviting them to a general information session and/or a one-on-one meeting.

As with most success stories, it takes a real team effort.  Our director of national and international scholarships assists in recruitment.  She often sees suitable candidates who meet with her to discuss other possibilities and encourages them to consider applying for a Fulbright.  Because her full-time job involves scholarships and mine doesn’t, she is the one with better connections to other information and groups (such as her membership in NAFA), and her information has been vital.  Our selection committee is made up of faculty and community members who are former Fulbright grantees (either as students or professionals), who not only aid in reviewing applications and interviewing candidates, but also are often the cheerleaders who promote Fulbright to the university community.

In spite of all our best efforts, it is still the students, their passion and commitment that are the real reason for our recent successes.  One specific anecdote comes to mind.  This past year, a graduate student in linguistics and teaching English as a foreign language met with us about applying.  After some discussion and research, she decided to prepare a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) application to Hong Kong.  She was diligent in researching and preparing her application and did an outstanding job interviewing with our committee.  When she checked her e-mail that very evening, she received notice that there would no longer be any ETA grants offered to Hong Kong for this particular year.  Rather than give up in despair, she returned to the task of researching availabilities, decided to apply for an ETA grant to Romania, and in the course of just one week - had completely revised her proposal.  All of our support effort would mean nothing without her willingness to dedicate extra time (while attending classes and working her assistantship) to completing a new application.

In the end, regardless of what we do, it’s our students who prove themselves worthy of a Fulbright.  That’s as it should be.