Fulbright scholars meet in city

TNN / May 17, 2007, 05:59 IST

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United States Educational Foundation in India also known as the Fulbright Commission in India is vigorously promoting mutual understanding between the people of US and India.

LUCKNOW: United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) also known as the Fulbright Commission in India, promotes mutual understanding between the people of United States and India through academic and cultural exchanges.
The Fulbright programme came into force after a treaty was signed between Jawahar Lal Nehru and America ambassador in 1950.
"Since then the programme has sponsored Indians from all walks of life to gain a greater understanding of the US society, culture and values and to foster deeper appreciation of India amongst their American colleagues,"said Jane E Schukoske, executive director, USEFI, during a meeting of Fulbrighters in the city on Wednesday. Schukoske also announced a new round of fellowship competitions open to Indian citizens for the year 2008-09.
"Further information on it can be obtained from USEFI’s website, www. fulbright-india.org. USEFI administers Fulbright and other fellowships for Indian and American students, lecturers, researchers, teachers and professionals, and provides educational advising services to Indian students interested in pursuing higher education in the US.

USEFI has Indian Fulbright Alumni strength of over 4,000 with 16 alumni chapters functioning all over India. USEFI alumni are active in organising seminars and workshops on contemporary issues.
Talking about the selection of candidates for the scholarships, she said, "Screening and selection committees look for talented individuals whose projects are important to India and the US and who have the ability to be good cultural ambassadors. The ideal exchange fellow is one who contributes both important work in his/her field and encourages Indo-US networking during and after the fellowship”.

The programme has made many like James from Seattle who is pursuing a degree in public administration from Lucknow University. "I had seen the functioning of political parties during elections by going in their public meetings. And, I got to know a lot of public process here by getting a first hand feel of it," he shared adding,
"These elections were different due to restrictions from the election commission."
James finds a supporter in Robert when he says there could not be a better place than Lucknow to learn maximum on Urdu. From Wisconsin, Robert who can converse in chaste Hindi and Urdu, is pursuing a degree from the department of Urdu. "I had been to old Lucknow areas and also to Rampur for better understanding of the language”.
"Urdu is taught in some of the universities in the US and in my university there are 15 students, for all the three levels of the course”, he added.

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