Fulbright International Education Administrators Awards

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Group of IEA students

Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) Seminars are fully funded opportunities for U.S. higher education administrators to participate intensive two-week seminars abroad to learn about other countries’ higher education systems. By participating in a Fulbright IEA seminar, you can build your institution’s capacity for international education, gain a cross-cultural perspective, and open doors to collaboration with colleagues and students throughout the world.

Seminar Activities Include

  • Campus visits to a wide range of universities and colleges
  • Briefings from faculty and administration at public and private higher education institutions as well as from leading educational experts and government officials
  • Tours of historical and cultural sites

All travel, accommodations, and schedules are provided by the Fulbright IEA Program.

Current IEA Seminar Participating Countries (Click on a country for award information)

  • NEW France and Senegal HBCU IEA Program - Deadline: September 16, 2024

    This award is a new opportunity designed for administrators at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).  HBCU administrators are also eligible for and encouraged to apply for any of the below IEA programs.

  • India - Deadline: September 16, 2024
  • Taiwan - Deadline: September 16, 2024
  • Japan - Deadline: November 1, 2024
  • Korea - Deadline: November 1, 2024
  • France - Deadline: February 3, 2025
  • Germany - Deadline: February 3, 2025
Resources - webinar announcements, flyers, and more

IEA Flyer

Upcoming Webinar: Fulbright International Education Administrator (IEA) Awards

Wednesday, May 15, 2024  2-3 pm Eastern time. Register to join us!  Our webinar will cover this competition's seminars available in 2025-26 plus guide you through the application and selection process.  Please join us to learn more about this unique opportunity.  (Can't attend? Register to stay informed about IEA awards!)

Contact
For more information about any award, contact IEA staff at iea@iie.org.

Grant Duration

Two weeks

France Award Timeline
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IEA Timeline graphic for France and Germany
Germany Award Timeline
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IEA Timeline graphic for France and Germany
India Award Timeline
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IEA Timeline graphic
Japan Award Timeline
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IEA Timeline graphic for South Korea and Japan
Korea Award Timeline
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IEA Timeline graphic for South Korea and Japan
Taiwan Award Timeline
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IEA Timeline graphic

General Eligibility and Guidelines for Previous Fulbright Grantees

The complete Fulbright policies for U.S. Lecturers and Research Scholars, which includes U.S. International Education Administrator Seminar participants are available here (Chapter 600)

To be eligible for the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, you must be a U.S. citizen.  If you are not a citizen of the United States and would like to apply for a grant to visit the U.S., please visit the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Program. If you are a recent college graduate, or graduate student or a doctoral candidate with limited professional experience, please visit the Fulbright Student Program.  Please reference the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program's Eligibility page for all program eligibility requirements. Specific IEA Award requirements are listed below. 

Award-specific Requirements

Please reference individual award descriptions for additional eligibility information, including professional qualifications.  

  • Professional Profile: Individual award descriptions specify the preferred administrator background and years of experience.
  • Language Requirements: The seminars are conducted in English, foreign language proficiency is not required.
  • Directors of English language programs and instructors in such programs are not eligible for many of these awards.

Application Steps

All application materials, including recommendation letters, must be submitted via our online application form by the deadline for your award, available in the IEA overview section as well as your award's description.  

Before you begin, check your eligibility and the award description for any specific requirements. Only complete, eligible applications will be forwarded for consideration.  Below you will find more pointed guidance for all application materials.

Application | See Application Instructions

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Seminar Details

Since IEA seminar itineraries are arranged by the host country, you do not provide a project statement or make your own plans. Instead, you must provide essay responses to the following questions in the application:

Professional Biography (Up to 2,000 characters, including spaces and punctuation): Highlight your educational background, professional/administrative experience, most significant professional accomplishments, and key responsibilities in your current position. You may include information on your professional affiliations/memberships, community service, publications, honors and awards, and any other relevant information.

Country Selection and Professional Relevance (Up to 4,500 characters, including spaces and punctuation):

  • Why are you applying to the IEA seminar for this country? Describe how your professional responsibilities relate to this grant, including any achievements in the development of international initiatives and/or systems.
  • What expertise can you share with peers in the host country? Describe your experience with this country. Please include if you have visited this country previously, and any communication or interaction with the country such as setting up partnerships, cultural engagement, and experiences sending/receiving students.

Outcomes and Impact (Up to 3,000 characters, including spaces and punctuation):

  • How would your participation in this IEA seminar contribute to the international education goals of your institution?
  • What is the anticipated impact your participation would have on your institution and/or community?  Be specific and consider outcomes with the potential to be broad and sustainable. How would you share what you have learned with your home institution and others?
  • What is the anticipated impact your participation would have on your professional development and career?


Cultural Preparation (Up to 1,500 characters, including spaces and punctuation):  Please describe your ability to be adaptable, culturally sensitive, collegial, and how you may serve as a cultural ambassador for the U.S.

Additional Information: If there is any additional information you would like those reviewing your application to be aware of, please include it here. (Up to 500 characters, including spaces and punctuation.)

CV/Resume

All applications require a curriculum vitae or resume. It should be clearly organized and tailored to show how your credentials, professional standing, and accomplishments relate to international education.  Note that your CV should demonstrate that you meet the requirements for your award. 

  • Include your employment history, listing all items chronologically, starting with the most recent

Format Requirements:

  • Up to 6 pages
  • Single spaced, 12-point or larger font size; 1-inch margins
  • Use headers and/or bullets to organize and convey key elements, and page numbers
  • File type: Adobe PDF (recommended) or Word document
  • Only Latin alphabet characters are allowed (i.e. do not include any words or phrases that contain non-English characters)
Institutional Statement

All applications require an institutional statement.  Note that this document is not about you personally; it is to provide reviewers an overview of your institution and its international engagement. 

Institutional Statements should address the following:

  • General information about your home institution (type of institution, total enrollment, number of degrees offered, etc.).
  • The number of international students on campus and where they are coming from.
    • If applying for the IEA Seminar in Japan or Korea, you must include the number of students from Japan and Korea currently on your campus.
  • The study abroad opportunities available on your campus.
  • Any institutional partnerships, particularly with universities in the country where the grant takes place.
  • Any future goals/plans for internationalizing the campus

Format Requirements

  • Up to 2 pages
  • Single spaced, 12-point or larger font size; 1-inch margins
  • Use headers and/or bullets to organize and convey key elements, and page numbers
  • If this document is produced (in part or entirely) by someone other than the applicant, the source should be cited within the document
  • File type: Adobe PDF (recommended) or Word document
  • Only Roman characters are allowed
Recommendations

All applications require two letters of recommendation. Recommenders evaluate your professional qualifications, the potential for institutional impact, and your personal qualifications and qualities.

  • Applicants must register their recommenders in the online application, and are responsible for ensuring their letters are submitted via the online system by the application deadline
  • Recommenders submit their letters directly to the online application, and may not be submitted outside the online system
  • Letters can be submitted before or after you submit the application, but must be submitted by the application deadline
  • All recommendations must be in English

Tips

  • Applicants: Provide your recommenders with a copy of your statement of intent
  • Recommenders: Retain an electronic copy of submitted letters

 

Who may serve as a recommender?

  • One letter must be from your current supervisor or someone you report to at your institution; they should be familiar with your administrative skills and leadership success
  • One letter can be from any colleague who can speak to your personal attributes and interest in international education; they can be from your own or another institution
  • References from relatives are not permitted
  • Representatives of U.S. Embassy posts or Fulbright Commissions in the country of application may not serve as recommenders
  • Representatives of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) at the U.S. Department of State may not serve as recommenders
  • Representatives of the Institute of International Education may not serve as recommender

For Recommenders

Please see these instructions for those providing letters of recommendation.

 

Reapplying

If you applied for a previous application cycle, to reapply or submit an updated application for the current competition:  

  • Login to your Slate application using your existing login and password. You will land on the Application Management page where you can view your prior applications and start a new one.  
    • To download a PDF copy of your previous materials, click on the respective Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program application to open it. Then click on Preview Application Proof to open a downloadable copy of your materials. 
    • To start your new application, click on Start New Application.  
  • Some of the basic personal information fields will automatically populate based on the information you provided previously, though you should double check them in case any updates are needed. 
  • You will need to re-upload your CV/Resume and Institutional Statement. We encourage you to review them as well to make sure that your materials fit the current year’s seminar. Be sure to carefully review the award description, as it may have been updated.  
  • Your recommenders must upload their reference letters to your new application, even if they have served as recommenders in previous years. If they need a copy of letters they provided in the past, they can email FulbrightScholarReview@iie.org for assistance. 
  • If you applied for a competition prior to 2020, you will need to create a new application account in the Slate application system; please refer to the Instructions (PDF) and webinar linked above.

 

 

 

 

 

The Fulbright Scholar Program supports activities and projects that recognize and promote the critical relationship between educational exchange and international understanding, in addition to the intellectual merit of the proposals. Applications with broad multiplier effects are particularly welcome, as are projects that are conducive to candidates sharing their experiences and knowledge with colleagues, students, and, ideally, with the general public in their host country and, upon return, in the United States.

Review Criteria

Reviewers consider the basic objectives of the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, evaluating applications on the following criteria:

  • Applicant training, background, experience: Applicant possesses the appropriate background and experience necessary to effectively participate in this seminar, as appropriate for their career path and stage, and focused on their broader capacity to succeed in the cultural context;
  • Country Selection and Professional Relevance: Applicant presents a clear description of why participation in the seminar in this location is needed, how their professional responsibilities relate to the seminar, their experience with the host country, and expertise they can share with peers in the host country; 
  • Outcomes and impact: Applicant demonstrates how they will share what they learned from the seminar, how their participation will contribute to their institutions' international education goals; the potential for impact to be broad and sustainable at their home institution and community, as well as the commitment of the home institution to international education activities and programs; and applicant's participation demonstrates potential for impact on their career and professional development; Note: should your position or institution change after you submit your IEA application, please notify us at iea@iie.org.
  • Cultural Preparation: Applicant displays ability to be adaptable, culturally sensitive, collegial, and can serve as a cultural ambassador for the U.S.  
  • Previous Fulbright Awards: Applicant provides compelling justification for prior Fulbright grant: Where there is competition for grants, preference will be given to candidates who have not had previous Fulbright grants, especially within the past ten years. View the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board’s policies on previous Fulbright Scholar grants here.
  • Veteran status: Preference is given to veterans of the U.S. armed forces when other factors are equivalent
  • Diversity and geographic distribution: The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State strives to ensure that its efforts reflect the diversity of U.S. society and societies abroad. The Bureau seeks and encourages the involvement of people from traditionally underrepresented audiences in all its grants, programs and other activities and in its workforce and workplace. Opportunities are open to people regardless of their race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, geographic location, socio-economic status, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. The Bureau is committed to fairness, equity and inclusion.