Full of Bright Minds
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Full of bright minds. AUSTRIAN-AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 THE AUSTRIAN-AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION: FULBRIGHT AUSTRIA 6 INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS 8 THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM IN BRIEF 9 FUNDING THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM IN AUSTRIA 10 FINANCIAL DETAILS BASED ON ANNUAL AUDIT, PROGRAM YEAR 2015-16 11 PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROGRAMS BY GRANT CATEGORY: 1951/52–2015-16 12 PARTICIPANTS BY DISCIPLINE 2015-16 13 AUSTRIAN AND US PARTICIPANTS IN FULBRIGHT AUSTRIA PROGRAMS 2015-16 15 © AUSTRIAN-AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MISSION STATEMENT Fulbright Austria promotes mutual understanding placement of over 3,000 US teaching assistants at between the peoples of Austria and the United States Austrian secondary schools since 1962. Since its through educational and cultural exchange. As part inception, it also has served as a bilateral clearing of the global community of Fulbright programs, we house for information on Austrian and US higher have provided enterprising, creative, and diverse education for the Austrian and American publics at Austrian and US students and scholars with quality large and provided educational advising services for opportunities to learn, teach, and pursue research in Austrians interested in educational opportunities in the the respective partner countries since 1950. We fulfill United States. this mission by managing the prestigious Fulbright scholarship program, coordinating a nation-wide During the 2015-16 program year, Fulbright Austria teaching assistantship program that places US facilitated 78 Fulbright awards: university graduates in Austrian secondary schools, and counseling students and institutions of higher 6 Austrian Scholars at US universities education on opportunities to study in the US or Austria as an EducationUSA advising center. Our 23 US Scholars at Austrian universities and cultural work is sponsored by core contributions from the institutions Austrian and US governments with valuable additional support from institutional and individual partners in 3 US Fulbright Specialists (shorter two to six week both countries. institutional stays) 12 Austrian Students (enrolled in US graduate The Austrian Fulbright Commission was established programs) by an executive agreement between the Republic of Austria and the United States of America in 1950. 21 US students, graduate students and PhD This agreement established a binational board candidates at Austrian universities (including 12 responsible for the oversight and management of students with awards combined with teaching bilateral educational and cultural exchange programs. assistantships in Austrian secondary schools) Since the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, the programs of the Austrian-American Educational Commission 13 Austrian German Language Teaching Assistants (Fulbright Austria) has been financed by annual core at US colleges and universities contributions from the Austrian and US governments with valuable additional support from institutional and it also facilitated the placement of and individual partners in both countries. Binational management and bilateral funding are signature 152 US Teaching Assistants at Austrian secondary characteristics of the Fulbright Program. Austrian schools authorities recognize Fulbright Austria as a nonprofit organization, and contributions to Fulbright Austria are tax deductible in Austria and the United States. As an academic exchange program, the Fulbright Program is committed to the freedom of expression and the freedom of inquiry, the advancement of mutual understanding, and the promotion of international cooperation. Ultimately Fulbright grants create opportunities and empower individuals and institutions to act constructively in an international setting. The open-ended opportunities inherent in learning, teaching, and research abroad result in new ideas and new relationships that fuel innovation, knowledge transfer, and institutional collaboration. Fulbright Austria has provided over 6,000 Austrian and US students, teaching assistants, teachers, artists, scholars, and scientists with opportunities since 1951. Furthermore, it has coordinated the 3 ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fulbright Austria also facilitated guest lectures and promote educational exchange. In 2015-16 Fulbright visits from US Fulbright Scholars in other European Austria placed 164 US college and university countries to Austrian universities under the auspices graduates from 98 different institutions as teaching of the Fulbright Inter-Country Lecture Program for US assistants under the auspices of the Austrian Ministry Scholars. of Education‘s Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program. This program is comparable in size to the A detailed list of the home and host institutions world’s largest Fulbright English Teaching Assistant of all Austrian and US Fulbright grantees and US Program (ETA) in Germany (139) and larger than Teaching Assistants is in the appendix of this report. second and third largest Fulbright ETA programs in It illustrates the diversity of participants in programs Brazil (110) and Malaysia (90). These US Teaching managed by Fulbright Austria in terms of their origins Assistants, or USTAs, taught part-time at 240 and destinations in Austria and the United States, different schools in communities large and small in respectively. all nine Austrian provinces and had regular weekly contact with tens of thousands of Austrian secondary Fulbright Austria relies on the monetary and in-kind school students. support of a wide variety of public and private institutions in both countries. (See p. 10 “Funding the Outside of the Fulbright grant program proper, the Fulbright Program in Austria“ for details.) The total 152 participants in the US Teaching Assistantship revenue of Fulbright Austria in 2015-16 was Program managed by the Austrian Fulbright € 1,387,371 ($1,555,349). Commission received salaries worth €1,717,728 ($1,925,704) from Austrian provincial school boards. In addition to cash awards totaling €819,849 ($919,113) Austrian and US Fulbright grantees Therefore, during the 2015-16 program year the received an additional €833,923 ($934,890) as direct total cash and in-kind benefits of Fulbright Program or in-kind benefits on-site from host institutions in grants and the USTA Program totaled €3,939,022 the United States and Austria as parts of their grant ($4,415,943). packages, and these benefits almost doubled the overall value of the total grants awarded. The total In terms of its information, outreach, and advising revenues and in-kind values of Fulbright Austria grant activities, Fulbright Austria had over 100,000 digital programs were €2,221,294 ($2,490,238). and personal contacts in 2015-16. The 31 Austrian grantees were either graduates of or The past and present activities of the individuals and faculty at 13 different Austrian institutions, and they institutions associated with the programs managed studied, taught, or conducted research at 27 different by Fulbright Austria are documented on-line on the US colleges and universities. They received a total commission’s website at www.fulbright.at which also of €889,687 ($996,109) of support in the form of has links to Fulbright Austria’s social media platforms: grants from Fulbright Austria or as direct and in-kind Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. support on site from US host institutions in the form of scholarships, tuition remissions, stipends, salaries, or housing. The 47 US grantees were graduates, students, or faculty from 43 different US colleges and universities and affiliated with 21 different Austrian universities, research facilities, or cultural institutions in all major Austrian university cities. They received a total of €764.058 ($989.362) of support in the form of Fulbright grants or direct and in-kind support on site from Austrian institutions. Due to the generous support of Austrian host institutions, Fulbright Austria had the eighth largest US Fulbright Scholar Program in the world in the 2015-16 program year ranking behind India (36), Germany (35), United Kingdom (30), France (29), Brazil (25), Israel (24) and Canada (23). In addition to managing the Fulbright grant program, part of the central mandate of Fulbright Austria is to 4 ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MONETARY AND DIRECT & IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS TO AUSTRIAN-AMERICAN FULBRIGHT PROGRAMS 2015/16, € 2,221,294 Institutional Partnerships € 388,254 US Government Contributions 18% € 335,881 16% Austrian Federal Ministry of Education € 45,236 2% Administrative Fees, Trust Fund Income and Donations € 83,077 4% Direct and In-Kind Contributions by US Institutions for Austrian Fulbright Austrian Ministry of Science, Research Grantees and Economy € 567,612 € 534,923 26% 24% Direct and In-Kind Contributions by Austrian Institutions for US Fulbright Grantees € 226,311 Monetary 10% Direct & In-Kind 5 ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16 THE AUSTRIAN-AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION: FULBRIGHT AUSTRIA The current statutory basis of the Austrian-American The following individuals served on the Fulbright Aust- Educational Commission (Fulbright Austria) is the ria board during the 2015-2016 program year: Fulbright-Hays Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961 and an “Agreement between HONORARY CO-CHAIRS: the Federal Government of Austria and the Government of the United States of America for the Alexa L. Wesner financing of certain educational and cultural exchange US Ambassador to Austria programs” from 1963 (Bundesgesetzblatt