Senator James W. Fulbright (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
The University of Arizona and Pennsylvania State University are the nation's top producers of Fulbright Scholars, with each having 17 of their faculty and researchers chosen to receive Fulbright awards for 2022-2023. Georgetown University produced the most Fulbright Students of any university this year, with 49.
Founded in 1946 though federal legislation proposed by United States Senator J. William Fulbright, the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program funds American scholars and professionals to go abroad to lecture or conduct research for as long as a year. It’s the nation’s leading international educational exchange program. Fulbright said he believed the mission of the program was “to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.”
The Fulbright Student Program provides grants to college graduates, graduate students, and early-career professionals in over 100 different fields of study to study, teach English, and conduct research overseas.
Over the last 75 years, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership qualities—the opportunity to travel abroad and exchange ideas with leaders of communities throughout the world.
Each year, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces the top-Fulbright-producing institutions for both the Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Student Programs. The lists are published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Fulbright Scholars
The top doctoral universities for Fulbright Scholars were:
- University of Arizona 17
- Pennsylvania State University 17
- Brigham Young University 9
- Oregon State University 9
- Michigan State University 9
- University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) 8
- University of Wisconsin (Madison) 8
- Iowa State University; University of Vermont; University of Michigan (Ann Arbor); Ohio State University; Harvard University; and Texas A&M University (College Station); each with 7.
Among baccalaureate colleges, Kenyon College (4), St. Olaf College (3) and Bates College (3) were the top producers.
For masters-level institutions, the University of Houston-Downtown led the list with 4 scholars followed by Metropolitan State University of Denver, Ithaca College, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, College of Charleston and the University of Michigan at Dearborn, each with 3 scholars.
Fulbright Students
The top doctoral institutions for Fulbright Student awards were:
- Georgetown University 49
- Princeton University 36
- Brown University 30
- Yale University 29
- Harvard University 29
- University of Notre Dame 28
- Duke University 26
- Columbia University 26
- University of Pennsylvania 25
- New York University 25
Bowdoin College in Maine (19 students) was the leader among baccalaureate colleges, followed by Washington and Lee University (15), Oberlin College (13), Pitzer College (13), and Bates College (12).
Among masters-level schools, the top producers for Fulbright students were Salisbury University (9), Rhode Island School of Design (7), City University of New York Hunter College (6), Florida Southern College (6), State University of New York College at Geneseo (5), University of North Georgia (5), and Western Washington University (5).
“On behalf of President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken, congratulations to the colleges and universities recognized as 2022-2023 Fulbright Top Producing Institutions, and to all the applicants who were selected for the Fulbright Program this year,” said Lee Satterfield, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, in the agency’s announcement. “Thanks to the visionary leadership of these institutions, administrators, and advisors, a new generation of Fulbrighters – changemakers, as I like to say – will catalyze lasting impact on their campus, in their communities, and around the world.”
This year’s list totals 174 institutions, representing a wide diversity of institutions, including research universities, liberal arts colleges, arts schools, and community colleges.The lists include 21 Minority Serving Institutions, including twelve Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, one Historically Black College or University, fifteen Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI), and an Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institution. Twelve community colleges and four military academies or affiliated institutions are also included.
