COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND INTERNATIONALIZATION HOSTS A FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR WORKSHOP

Community Engagement and Internationalization held a Fulbright Scholar workshop with the focus of enhancing international opportunities through fellowships and grants for students and staff within the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Fulbright is an educational and cultural exchange fellowship and scholarship program that intends for students and professors to visit United States of America and vice-versa for cross cultural pollination.

Rajgopal Sashti, International Education Advisor with the University System of Georgia and a Fulbright Specialist conducted the two-part workshop that focused on the Doctors and Professors.

“My role here is to help traditionally under represented students and faculty members at universities that are not prestigious like University of Cape Town, UKZN etc to help them learn the best practices, techniques, methods and practices on how to develop competitive applications to submit to the Fulbright program,” said Sashti.

Sashti added that researchers should start developing networks and learning from others who have received grants and also make sure that their project statements and personal statements are thoroughly reviewed and critiqued by people inside their disciplines and outside their disciplines.

Motebang Vincent Nakin, Director, Risk & Vulnerability science Centre said; “I thought that Fulbright is only meant for students so I learned that even the academics can apply and for us it is only one year. The presenter also told us that in order for one to be successful in this they need to collaborate more and interact with the ones that are more experienced.”

Though the workshop was only for one day, Sashti availed himself to assist the students and professors further virtually via skype and video conferencing should they need help on the Fulbright Scholarship.

-By Anita Roji