About

The German Fulbright Alumni Association brings together internationally oriented students, scholars, and practitioners from a wide range of academic fields and areas of professional expertise. Most of our members have spent a year in the United States with a Fulbright grant.

We are guided by the idea of the program’s founder, Senator J. William Fulbright, to bring together people of different nations and contribute to world peace through better international understanding.

Based on personal and educational experience, it is the overriding mission of the German Fulbright Alumni association to

  • strengthen and support cross-cultural contacts and exchange between Fulbrighters from all around the world;
  • encourage dialogue and interaction between international scholars, experts, and activists on topics important to the political, social, and cultural life of nations.

The Fulbright Program

The German-American Fulbright Program implements Senator J. William Fulbright’s visionary concept: The promotion of mutual understanding between our two countries through academic and bicultural exchange.

The Fulbright Program is a truly global endeavor, providing exchanges between the United States and over 180 countries and territories worldwide. More than fifty permanent commissions support the work of the Fulbright Program on the binational level, among them the German-American Fulbright Commission. Annually more than 4,500 scholars, American and foreign, participate in the Fulbright exchange. Since the inception of the Fulbright Program in 1946, it has sponsored over a quarter of a million scholars.

The largest and most varied of the Fulbright programs worldwide, the German-American Fulbright Program, has sponsored over 40,000 Germans and Americans since its inception in 1952.

The defining characteristic of the program is student exchange. This core program is complemented by academic year programs for professors, teachers, teaching assistants, and journalists; summer internship programs for students; and seminars for experts in university administration and German and American Studies.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Over the years we have frequently been asked the following questions concerning the activities of our association:

What does the Alumni association do?

We are the main platform for former participants of the American – German Fulbright exchange program on both sides of the Atlantic. We aim to strengthen trust, ties and transatlantic cooperation and thus cherish and spread the spirit of the exchange program. We do so by organizing numerous events all over Germany. We participate in international activities of the worldwide Fulbright community, offer a number of online and offline publications to our members and the general public, and last but not least, we finance various student grants each year.

Are we affiliated with the German or American government?

We are absolutely independent from any government or institution, financially and otherwise. Our motiviation is to keep our own Fulbright experience alive after the end of the grant period and to continue to contribute to the objectives of the Fulbright program. We cooperate with numerous institutions, among them the German American Fulbright Commission. Again, we receive funds exclusively by our members and private donors. Specific funds are sometimes provided by befriended organizations who co-finance our events or publications.

 

Do we get paid for what we do?

All of our activities are organized by our members during many hours after (and sometimes during) work. There are of course refunds for travel and other expenses of the board members, but most of the time our members waive these reimbursements. There are no per diems, which enables us to afford a small office in Frankfurt and a part time employee (a non-member).

 

How can I contribute?

Our network is always open to former Fulbright grantees as well as to grantees of other transatlantic exchange programs.

The Fulbright Alumni association is based on a large number of individuals with different backgrounds and professions who volunteer their time and effort to create an active community. You are more than welcome to get to know the Fulbright network.

If you would like to support to our association financially, we gladly accept donations by private individuals and institutions. We will be happy to provide donation receipts.