Background

The Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (FSE) in Taiwan administers the Fulbright Scholar, Student, and Language Teacher Programs. The Foundation was established through a Letter of Agreement in 1947 in Nanjing between the United States of America and the Republic of China, and resumed operations on Taiwan in 1957. In 1964 the letter was updated and the purpose reconfirmed, “to promote further mutual understanding between the United States of America and the Republic of China by wider exchange of knowledge and professional talents through educational contacts.” In 1979 the title was changed to FSE. In 1979 and 2010, additional exchanges of Letters acknowledged the identity of FSE as a non-profit international legal entity under the mandate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The Ministry of Education (MOE) and MOFA are strong supporters and partners of FSE along with many county governments. Among other responsibilities, the central role of FSE is to administer the Fulbright Program.

Over the past 60 years, Fulbright has financed over 1,600 Taiwan grantees to the U.S. and over 1,600 U.S. grantees to Taiwan. They include high officials, university presidents, professors, artists, researchers, teachers, and language assistants. Fulbright is not an open-ended program for personal experience; rather all grantees go abroad with predesigned programs and responsibilities. This is the best way to add to the stock of knowledge, gain access to local environments, and share their perceptions of their homes.

In 1962, the Foundation became the U.S. Education Information Center providing Taiwan students with information about studying in the U.S. Starting in 2003 with 8 teachers, the Foundation began cooperating with Yilan Country Government in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) project. Over 17 years, the partnerships have extended to Kaohsiung City, Kinmen City, Taichung City, Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taitung County, Hualien County, Changhua County, and Yunlin County. In 2019-2020 128 Fulbright ETAs served in local schools, until the program was temporarily suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018 FSE embarked on a new experiment to bring undergraduates to Taiwan for study abroad experiences by establishing the Consortium for Study Abroad in Taiwan (CSAT). The hope is to seed the future pool of Fulbrighters.

There are various other categories of scholarships administered by the Foundation. For the Scholar Program, the grant awards include Teaching, Research, Teaching/Research, Cross-Strait Studies Research, Postdoctoral Research, and U.S.-Taiwan International Education Administrators. For the Student Program, the grant awards include Open Study/Research, Doctoral Dissertation Research, Ph.D. programs across the U.S., M.A. Degree Programs in Taiwan (12 departments in 8 universities), and Ph.D. Degree Programs in Taiwan. For the Language Teaching Program, the grant awards include both American English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in Taiwan and Taiwanese Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) in the United States.