The Public Affairs Section of U.S. Mission Nigeria is pleased to announce the annual call for applications for the Fulbright Foreign Student Program for the 2024/2025 academic year.
The Fulbright Foreign Student Program is a research program funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in New York.
Purpose
The FFSP program is designed primarily to strengthen capacities of African universities through higher degree training and to develop the potential of their academic staff.
It is targeted at young and exceptionally promising faculty members who wish to conduct their doctoral research in the United States.
Applicants must be at least two years into their doctoral program in any discipline at a Nigerian university or research institute at the time of application.
Fields of Study
Competition is open for the following study fields: Science, engineering, technology, arts, journalism/public relations/media studies, agriculture/food science, economics, environmental science, international relations, political science, public administration/policy, public health, and tourism.
Note: The Fulbright Foreign Student Program is extremely competitive, particularly in the fields of journalism, communication, and business administration, sciences such as chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering related disciplines
Grant Benefit
The grant covers the grantee’s round-trip airfare to the U.S., a settling-in allowance, monthly stipend, housing allowance, books-and-supplies allowance, and computer allowance.
The grant also covers basic university health insurance as a primary insurance coverage and the Fulbright ASPE health benefit as secondary coverage.
Note: The grant does not cover travel of dependents, hence grantees will not be allowed to travel with spouse and children to the United States.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for a grant:
Applicants must be citizens or nationals of Nigeria, or permanent residents holding a valid passport issued by the government of Nigeria.
Applicants must be DOCTORAL OR PHD students who have completed a significant amount of their doctoral program in Nigerian universities and have the endorsement of their home institution.
Note: MASTERS and First-Degree applicants are NOT qualified to apply for this program.
Applicants must have an outstanding academic record and high level of English proficiency.
Applicants must take their first TOEFL exam by May 2023.
Applicants must meet the minimum score on required standardized tests (TOEFL: a score of 90)
Applicants must have high motivation and a serious commitment to completing the program as scheduled and to returning home.
Only applicants with strong proposals, outlining their research objectives, methodology, time-frame, and justification for conducting the research in the U.S. will be short-listed for interviews.
Preference will be given to applicants who have not studied in the U.S.
Those in business, law and accounting should understand that most U.S. institutions rarely accept research students in these fields due to high demand for full-time programs and tuition concerns. Therefore, they face great challenges in finding placements for such grantees unless their proposals are tilted toward economics, development-related areas, democracy, human rights and conflict resolution.
