In 2021, the Fulbright program reached two special milestones – seventy-five years of activity worldwide and sixty-five years of activity and accomplishments in Israel.
At 65, it is our moment to celebrate Fulbright’s legacy and commitment to advancing and pushing the limits of human knowledge. Throughout the year, we will showcase our legacy through public events and an on-line exhibition "Archaeology of Fulbright," to be displayed in the coming months. In reflecting on the program’s past, we are most certainly proud of our achievements. Our success lies in the impact our exchange program has had on Israeli and American scholars, students, teachers and professionals in all walks of life.
A physical exchange between Israel and the U.S. is the core principle of our work. We are delighted that our fellows have continued their work and proven their commitment to the vision of the program despite the difficult circumstances and challenging times such as experienced in the last year. New knowledge was generated, education was given top priority and the process of the migration of ideas continued and expanded. As we move forward, we are committed to cultivating the next generation of leaders, that will continue to challenge the status quo and to contribute to the creation of cutting-edge scholarship. Indeed, creativity and innovation have been in Fulbright Israel’s DNA from its inception.
We, at Fulbright Israel, are committed to academic excellence, alongside transparent conduct, while promoting diversity and accessibility as well as leading the way in the academic field. After 65 years, it is time to explore current challenges and opportunities in higher education and to examine the relevance of the work done so far for the future needs of Israeli society in the face of changing conditions and requirements. With this in mind, we have evaluated our work thus far and suggested changes that focus on areas where our investment could be relevant and significant.
We all agree that knowledge matters but we don’t often think about the places where knowledge is constructed and being transferred. Gradually it is becoming clear that there are important places and spaces, off-campus, where knowledge is being produced. Thus, along with the important investment in talented people, who want to continue research in a variety of fields of knowledge, we are hoping to also invest in new fields of great importance to public life and play a role in the creation of areas that will allow knowledge to become a public resource.
We hope that the future Fulbright fellows address, in their engagement with various publics, critical questions that are on the global and local agenda, among them literacy, democratic and civic values, climate change, poverty and immigration.
Our program is as dynamic, exciting and as vital as ever. We greatly anticipate the next part of our exhilarating journey.
Shira Ruderman
Anat Lapidot-Firilla
Chair, Board of Directors Executive Director
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