Fulbright

Table of Contents

The German-American Fulbright Programme implements Senator Fulbright's visionary idea: To promote mutual understanding between the US and Germany through academic and cultural exchange.

The Fulbright Programme has an international reach. It facilitates exchanges between the United States and more than 160 countries worldwide. Currently, 50 permanent commissions, including the German-American Commission, support the work of the Fulbright Programme at the intergovernmental level. Each year, approximately 8,000 Americans and other nationalities participate in Fulbright exchanges. Since its inception in 1946, the programme has sponsored 310,000 scholars.

Fulbright Study Scholarships

For the academic year 2022-2023, the Fulbright Commission offers study scholarships to (partially) finance studies at a graduate school in the USA. Study projects of four to nine months' duration are supported. The Fulbright Commission provides a scholarship of up to 34,500 US dollars for the partial financing of such a study project.

Detailed information on the programme can be found here.

Scholarship purpose The scholarships serve to deepen the subject-related studies at recognised (accredited) American universities in the USA at the level of graduate studies (Master/PhD).

Target group Students and graduates of all subjects who are German citizens and would like to study one or two semesters at the Graduate School of a US university. Selection criteria are good academic performance, social commitment and the potential to engage in transatlantic relations.
Applicants must provide proof of a Bachelor's degree or at least 6 successfully completed semesters in the Diplom, Magister and Staatsexamen programmes by the start of the scholarship at the latest.

Application The scholarship application is done online. The call for applications for the academic year 2022/2023 is expected to take place in mid-May 2021.

Selection procedure In a first selection step, the applications are assessed by independent experts. Applicants nominated by the experts will be invited to a selection interview in Berlin, which is expected to take place in November 2021. From mid-November, the applicants will be informed by e-mail about the outcome of the final selection.

Fulbright Doctoral Programme

In addition to the study scholarships, Fulbright also offers financial support for doctoral students who wish to carry out a 4-6 month research project in the USA. The scholarship benefits consist of funding for travel expenses, a monthly payment of 1,600 €, etc.

Detailed information on the programme can be found here.

Scholarship purpose Fulbright supports 4 - 6 month research stays of young German academics who are carrying out a research project at a US university or scientific institution. The project must be related to an academic dissertation already in progress and contribute to strengthening academic relations between US and German universities.

Target group The programme is aimed at young academics with German citizenship who will contribute to the academic and cultural exchange between Germany and the USA.
Applicants must be enrolled in a doctoral programme aiming at an academic research doctorate. Most of the previous studies should have been completed at a German university. After completing the scholarship stay, they will complete their doctorate at their home university. Applications from doctoral candidates from medical fields of study cannot be considered. The implementation of the research project must have already been arranged with a host institution in the USA.

Application For a stay in the USA starting in May of the following year, you can apply until 01 October.
If your stay begins in November of the same year, you have until 01 April to complete your application. You can apply online.

Selection procedure Scholarship holders are selected on the basis of the application documents, which are reviewed by the selection committee.

Fulbright Travel Scholarships

Programme description The travel scholarships serve to promote cultural exchange and to deepen the student's academic studies.
The funding is aimed at German students at universities and universities of applied sciences who arrange and (partially) finance their studies in the USA through a German-American university partnership programme. In this context, the German-American Fulbright Commission targets institutional exchange agreements that are made bilaterally directly between a German university and an American partner institution.

Target group The target group are students who would like to actively contribute to the academic and cultural exchange between Germany and the USA through their personality and commitment.

Applications are open to

Bachelor's students who have successfully completed at least four semesters of study in the USA at the time of admission (August/September) and who will continue/finish their Bachelor's programme at the German university after completing their studies in the USA.
Master's students who continue/finish their Master's programme at the German university after completing their studies in the USA.
Applicants who have already studied in the USA for more than four months or have completed an internship relevant to their studies are not eligible to apply.

The Fulbright Commission travel scholarship cannot be combined with other scholarships if these are awarded for a comparable purpose to the travel scholarship or if they are closed scholarship programmes (e.g. DAAD individual scholarships, funding within the framework of ISAP, BachelorPlus) whose benefits include the financing of travel costs.

Application requirements

willingness to assume social responsibility
motivation to work for German-American understanding
good to very good previous professional education
coherent professional goal orientation for the study project
good English language skills
commitment outside of studies
participation in the exchange programme of the German home university with a US partner university: The studies are arranged and (partially) financed on the basis of bilateral agreements between the institutions. Programme participants travel to the USA with the visa of the host university
German citizenship

Scholarship benefits

The Fulbright Commission funds the following benefits:

funding of travel expenses with a lump sum of €2,000
participation in the preparatory and networking meeting of German and American Fulbright scholarship holders
admission to the network of Fulbright Germany scholarship holders and alumni.

Application procedure

Students take the following steps:

they fill out the online application form. You will then receive a link which you can use to generate a pdf file from the online application form.
you print out the completed application form, sign it and submit it together with the following documents to the International Relations Office of the University of Koblenz:

completed, printed and signed application form
tabular curriculum vitae (in English, max. 1 page)
copy of university entrance qualification (translation and certification not necessary)
list of previous academic achievements with grade point average (signed by the examination office of the university, translation not necessary)
one letter of recommendation each (in German or English) from two university lecturers who hold a doctorate: The reviewers fill out the form on the Fulbright website, sign it and hand the document in a sealed envelope to the International Relations Office.

You can download the application form and a form for the letters of recommendation here. Please do not use folders, staplers, transparencies or (staple) clips.

Here you send your complete documents to:

Universität Koblenz
International Relations Office
Universitätsstraße 1
56070 Koblenz

The following steps are then taken by the International Relations Office:

The International Relations Office receives the scholarship applications from students. It reviews the applications (including the letters of recommendation) and decides which travel scholarship applicants will be proposed to the Fulbright Commission for consideration in the central final selection process in Berlin. In view of the limited number of available travel scholarships, it is necessary that the applicant proposals are limited to a maximum of eight students per university.
The International Relations Office will inform the non-proposed applicants accordingly.
For the students who are proposed for the central selection procedure of the Fulbright Commission, the International Relations Office fills out one evaluation form each.
For each nominated student, the International Relations Office will send the Fulbright Commission the signed hard copy of the completed evaluation form and the complete scholarship application by regular mail.