The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation hosts an event in its International Conference Hall, celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Fulbright Programme in Italy.
Since it was first set up, the Programme has played a central role in the bilateral relations between Italy and the United States of America through the granting of scholarships for research and teaching. Italy is among the countries that first started the Fulbright Programme. Since 1948, nearly 8,000 Italian and American grantees were offered Fulbright scholarships thanks to the joint effort of the Fulbright Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Embassy of the United States of America in Rome.
The event opens with the introductory remarks by Minister Moavero Milanesi, followed by Lewis M. Eisenberg, Ambassador of the United States to Italy, Vincenzo De Luca, Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, and Paola Sartorio, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission. Anita McBride, a member of the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board (FFSB), a U.S. State Department body in charge of supervising the global Fulbright Programme, will also address the participants at the event. Several round tables are scheduled, with a view to discussing specific themes such as teaching and promoting Italian language and culture in the United States.
The Programme’s 60 Italian and American grantees will attend the event, along with the members of the Board and numerous prominent figures of the academic world and private institutions that cooperate with the Fulbright Commission, thus contributing to the development of the project.
The event is designed to highlight the quality of the action the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is developing to promote the internationalisation of the Italian higher education system, attract foreign talents and enhance cultural cooperation with the U.S. It is in this light that the Fulbright Programme must be considered as a tool of absolute added value for bilateral relations between the two countries.
