U.S. Plans Fellowships for Graduate Students

The prize was a fellowship for up to two years of graduate or professional study in the United States. Last week in Moscow more than 1 000 you at Russians turned out to pick up application forms on the first day they were available. Next 160 suc­cessful applicants all of them citizens of Russia or other former republics or the Soviet Union, will be on U.S. campuses as members of the first class of Benjamin Franklin Fellows.

The details of the program, which has won $7-million in support from Congress for each of its first two years were announced here by the United States Information Agency which is coordinat­ing the project. The fellowships will be awarded for graduate study in business administration, economics law and public administration. A candidate must be under 40 years of age and college graduate.

This represents an intelligent invest­ment on the run of the U.S. in building dem­ocratic institutions in the whole region said Mr. Davidson, an executive director of the American Council of Teachers of Russian-American Council for Collaboration in Education and Language Study group. This is one of the four U.S. Academic Exchange organizations elected to administer the program. The others are: the Institutions of International Education, the International Research and Exchanges Board and the Soros' Foundation.

It is expected there would be about 20,000 applicants for the 160 fellowship and about 2,000 would be asked to submit to academic and English Language testing. Franklin Fellows will be selected on basis of test-scores academic excellence and per­sonal interviews.

Mr. Davidson said the existence of the program would "stimulate future contacts among individuals and institutions in all the affected disciplines and contribute greatly to mutual understanding and fel­lowship," he said.

At a press conference in Moscow to announce the new program, U.S. Ambassador stressed how the winners would be selected in a free and open competition. In each of the four areas of study, fel­lowships will be awarded for two-year courses of study leading to a degree, and for one-year, non-degree program. All fel­lowships will include an 8- to 12-week internship with an academic or business organization Recipients will come to the United States on "J" visas that will be good only for the term of their fellowship. The visa restriction would overcome any con­cerns that the program would contribute to a brain drain from Russia and other for­mer Soviet republics.

"The program is designed to support the economic and democratic reforms in those countries," the USA representative said, and as with all our exchanges including the Fulbright program, participant are required to go back home where they can put to use what they’ve learned". “The Franklin Fellowship,” she added, was the first major U.S. government educa­tion effort in the former Soviet Union." While some graduate students had come to the United States under the Fulbright pro­gram, the numbers were never very large.

It is expected that American universities as well as other U.S. organizations and busi­nesses would help to support the program through tuition waivers and internships "We're hoping this will augment and enhance program," she said. But we are prepared the full 7-million authorized for this year and next.

Pamela Snyder, administrator of the fel­lowship at the American Council of Teachers of Russian, said the program would hold benefits even for those not selected 'Approximately 10 candidates will be tested and interviewed each fellowship," she said. “And the process may pro­vide even unsuccessful candidates useful expe­rience which may contribute to their applica­tions to other programs.”

By Paul Desruisseaaux

(Невзорова Г.Д., Никитушкина Г.И. Учебник английского языка

для неязыковых вузов. СПб.: Издательство «Союз», 2002. С. 182-185.)