Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian Education Minister Giorgi Margvelashvili and U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine signed on Monday a Memorandum of Understanding to expand the Fulbright exchange program in Georgia.

The memorandum signed between the parties envisages the strengthening and development of relations within the academic exchange program Fulbright, designed for students and research scientists. It will facilitate the exchange of students and scientists at all levels of education and research in all fields and areas, strengthen links between public and private institutions, research institutes and universities of the two countries.

According to georgia.usembassy.gov website, the program will enable more Georgians to come to American campuses and experience life and academia at an American university. With this MoU, the U.S. and Georgia will jointly support students who wish to pursue graduate studies in the U.S.

Fulbright Scholar Program is one of the most prestigious scholarships offered by the U.S. government to Georgian students. When implementing the memorandum of understanding the U.S. side will coordinate funding of the Fulbright program in Georgia, management and implementation.

Educational exchange programs remain one of the strongest links between two countries. Over the last twenty years, thousands of Georgians have come to the United States for education, and over 3000 Georgians have participated in a U.S. professional or academic exchange programs.

The Fulbright Scholar Program was established in 1946 by the U.S. President Harry S. Truman which became the largest education exchange program in history.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

The program is coordinated by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State under policy guidelines established by the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB), with the help of 50 bi-national Fulbright commissions, U.S. embassies, and cooperating organizations in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of State is responsible for managing, coordinating and overseeing the Fulbright program. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is the bureau in the Department of State that has primary responsibility for the administration of the program.

Since it began, the program has operated on a bi-national basis; each country active in the Fulbright Program has entered into an agreement with the U.S. government. The first countries to sign agreements were China in 1947 and Burma, the Philippines, and Greece in 1948.