From October 12 – October 16, the Department of State will sponsor at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) the 2011 Fulbright Gateway Orientation for more than 80 Fulbright students from Pakistan. For the first time, a dedicated Gateway Orientation is being held for Fulbright students from Pakistan, which has the largest Fulbright program for visiting students and scholars in the world. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) sponsors the orientation to prepare students to adapt to academic and cultural life in the United States and to promote a shared and successful Fulbright experience. The orientation is jointly administered by the UT-Austin and the Institute of International Education (IIE).
Through a series of workshops, presentations and discussions, faculty from the UT Austin, representatives from the U.S. Department of State, IIE, the U.S. Educational Foundation in Pakistan (Fulbright binational commission), and Fulbright alumni will share information with participants about U.S. academic culture, U.S. society and people, cross-cultural awareness and Fulbright grant responsibilities. In keeping with the Fulbright Program’s emphasis on leadership, participants will also benefit from a leadership skills workshop. Students will experience local culture, including visits to the Texas State Capitol and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, a riverboat cruise on Lady Bird Lake and a session on American college football traditions. After the orientation, the students will return to campuses around the United States, where they are beginning either masters or doctoral degree programs in a broad range of academic disciplines.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. Government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 310,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Fulbright Program participants are among the more than 50,000 academic and professional exchange program participants supported annually by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. For more information, visit http://exchanges.state.gov.
