|
The
Program started after the end of World War II by initiative
of the then young senator from the State of Arkansas, J.
William Fulbright. Senator Fulbright hoped that the exchange
between the people of the United States and from other nations
would foster an understanding and tolerance that would eliminate
the basis for future conflicts.
|
| |
|
The
first exchanges took place in 1948 when 35 students and
one scholar visited the United States and 65 Americans traveled
abroad. Nowadays, almost a quarter million people from
all imaginable fields of study, have benefited from a "Fulbright
Experience". These individuals have contributed to
a small or large extent, directly or indirectly, to the reconciliation
of the political tensions after World War II.
|
|
| |
|
Their
achievements are testimony of the importance of the dissemination
of knowledge and the exchange of ideas in the solution of
human problems.
|
| |
|
The world has changed
a lot in the past 50 years. It has become smaller as jet
engines, satellites and computer links have made travelling
easier and turned communications almost instant.
|
| |
|
|
Nevertheless,
the immersion in another country's culture - living in one of
its towns or cities, walking along its streets, shopping in
its markets, having coffee and talking to someone who has grown
there - cannot be compared to a computer screen.. |
| |
| The
exchange of information from one place to another in the world
can occur in an instant through cables de optic fiber cables;
but the exchange of true understanding about the forces of our
times - political, social, economic and cultural - still needs
time and the physical presence of two persons with inquisitive
minds and open hearts, and the active and dedicated participation
of human actors to whom the bottom line are ideas and not only
facts. |
