About Us

"The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship."

The mission of the Fulbright Commission in Ireland is to build on the deep historic, cultural and economic ties between Ireland and the United States and to create mutually beneficial and sustainable educational exchange programmes which are responsive to national and global challenges and opportunities.

The primary function of the Fulbright Commission is to administer the Fulbright Program which was established by the US Congress in 1946 under legislation sponsored by Senator J. William Fulbright. Approximately 294,000 "Fulbrighters," 111,000 from the United States and 183,000 from other countries, have participated in the Program since its inception over sixty years ago. The Fulbright Program awards approximately 7,500 new grants annually. Currently, the Fulbright Program operates in over 155 countries worldwide.

The purpose of the Fulbright Program worldwide is to increase mutual respect and understanding between people of the United States and people of other countries through educational and cultural exchanges.

The Fulbright Program was established in Ireland in 1957 to provide scholarships to Irish citizens to lecture, research or study in the United States and for the US citizens to lecture, research or study in Ireland.  Since that time more than 1,600 Irish postgraduate students, academics and professionals have studied in top US colleges and research institutes and more than 600 US students and scholars have come to Ireland.   Many Fulbright awardees now hold leadership roles in Irish society – in business, the public sector, the professions, higher education and the arts.

According to one US Fulbrighter to Ireland, his Fulbright was “truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a priceless gift.”