Over the last five years, the trend in applications for the Near East and North Africa has generally followed that of the US Student program worldwide. A total of 198 applications were received in 2000/2001, and following two years of declining interest in the region (during which the figure dropped to 149 during 2002/2003)it has since rebounded nicely. IIE received 269 applications for these countries in 2004/2005--a 16% increase over 225 received during the previous year. This was the second consecutive year in which applications to the region posted significant gains--in 2003/2004, they increased by nearly 34% over the 2002/2003 figures.
The September 11th attacks and the subsequent war on terror and Iraqi conflict clearly account for much of the heightened interest in this region among US college and university students. The growth in the number of Islamic Civilization grants has also contributed to this trend. Of the 93 total applications that IIE received for these awards, 61 were for nations in the Near East/ North Africa. This represented 66% of the total Islamic Civilization applicant pool, and 23% of the applications received for the region as a whole.
The countries in the region with Bi-national Fulbright Commissions (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Morocco) generally receive the most applications. 202 students applied to these four nations last year, accounting for 75% of the regional total. While these countries offer a greater number of grants than others in the region, another selling point may be their less stringent language requirements:
- For Egypt, a working knowledge of Arabic is not required unless it is needed for the project. Many applicants often use their grants to support language training at the American University in Cairo (AUC) or the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA).
- For Morocco, French fluency may suffice instead of proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic or spoken Moroccan Arabic. This will ultimately depend on the nature and objectives of the applicant's research. Grantees who do not have a strong command of spoken Moroccan Arabic are encouraged to begin their grants with an intensive five-week course in the language.
- While useful, a working knowledge of Hebrew is not required in Israel unless it is needed for the project.
While Egypt is the sole country in which Arabic language training may be proposed as the sole grant activity, Fulbrighters to other countries in the region (namely Syria and Jordan) have also pursued instruction in Arabic in order to complement their research projects and enhance their knowledge of the language.