FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: June 29, 2007
CONTACT: David Pilsbury, Chief Executive, Worldwide Universities Network, D.Pilsbury@wun.ac.uk or 011-44-777-591-4865
London, England – Five universities in the United Kingdom have agreed to waive tuition fees of Fulbright scholars coming to their campus under a new agreement between the U.S. and U.K. Fulbright Commission and Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
The participating universities are Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, Southampton and York. The U.K. universities will partner with five American universities – the University of California, San Diego, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Pennsylvania State University, University of Washington, Seattle and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The partnerships will substantially increase opportunities for the exchange of graduate students and others seeking career development under the Fulbright Program and equip these individuals to function as world leaders and scholars in international and interdisciplinary environments early in their careers. It is expected that the program will extend to other territories where Fulbright Programs exist to promote exchange.
“We are absolutely delighted at this new venture with the Fulbright Commission,” said Professor Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor of Leeds and the new Chairman of WUN. “Working in overseas centers of excellence provides fundamental insights into why, not just how, research is different around the world and builds this international standpoint into students perspectives from the very beginning of their careers.”
WUN is a global platform of leading universities committed to sustained collaboration and the world’s leading research and educational alliance. WUN has developed a specific focus on enhancing experiences for graduate and post-doctoral students alongside its core research mission and has run a successful international Research Mobility Program since 2003 that has made over 650 awards. www.wun.ac.uk
“This partnership between the Fulbright Commission and WUN will add to the diversity of our program by increasing the number of awards we can make each year and by spreading our reach to new centers of excellence,” said Penny Egan, Executive Director of the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission. “As all the institutions involved are highly respected there is no question of compromising the very high standard that we expect from our scholars.”
The Fulbright Commission offers approximately 40 awards annually for graduate study, lecturing or research in the U.K. and U.S. each year. The program was established with the twin aims of fostering academic excellence and understanding between nations through educational exchange. Fulbright scholars are selected not only on academic merit but also for their leadership potential and their commitment to internationalization and the wider community. A Fulbright award for postgraduate study typically provides tuition fees and a general living allowance of approximately £10,000 (about $20,000 USD) for one academic year. www.fulbright.co.uk