Fulbright Awards for Sri Lankan Citizens

The Fulbright Program

The Fulbright program is a prestigious international exchange program that is administered worldwide to promote mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and other countries through educational and cultural exchange. The program aims at fostering intercultural relationships to bring people together and build capacity throughout the world to improve competence, diplomacy and international cooperation. The program operates in 160 countries and offers opportunities to a wide array of students and professionals to study, teach, conduct research in the U.S. as well as facilitating the same for U.S. citizens in the partner countries.  

The Fulbright program was initiated in Sri Lanka by an executive Agreement signed on 17th, November 1952. The U.S.-SLFC, formally known as the U.S. Educational Foundation of Sri Lanka, was established as an autonomous bi-national commission by the governments of the U.S and Sri Lanka. The Program gained permanent status in 1964 and is the only independent commission of its kind in the field of academic exchange in Sri Lanka and the only such entity that functions under a bi-national Board of Directors. For more than 6 decades, the Fulbright program in Sri Lanka has devoted its activities to the promotion of mutual understanding between the U.S and Sri Lanka through mutual academic and professional exchanges.

The US-SLFC awards three distinct scholarships annually to Sri Lankan nationals who have not had prior exposure to the US to undertake to study, teach and/or conduct research in the United States. 

Fulbright Masters Fellowship Awards

Awards are granted to those individuals to undertake graduate level study in a US university in any relevant discipline (except clinical medicine) that will strengthen expertise and build capacity in Sri Lanka.

Fulbright Professional Scholar Awards

Awards are granted to Sri Lankan professionals in all fields including the humanities, fine/performing arts (such as music, theatre, writing, design, photography), sport, journalism, law, sciences, paramedical services and management, to engage in a self-developed project related to their field of expertise to gain exposure to the latest technical or other developments as means to strengthen expertise and build capacity in Sri Lanka.

Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Awards

Awards are granted to Sri Lankan professionals to engage in research (post-doctoral or other) and/or lecturing at a US university to build capacity or fill gaps in expertise in any field sustainable in Sri Lanka. 

Important Information Regarding the Awards

  • Each applicant may not apply to more than one award category during an award cycle.
  • All successful candidates will be required to reside in Sri Lanka for a minimum of 2 years following the completion of the grant. 
  • Dependents will not be supported financially on this grant, but grantees may take their dependents at their own expense.
  • Material misinterpretation (e.g. plagiarism) at any time during the application or grant period is grounds for selection withdrawal or grant termination, as well as ineligibility for application to any US-SLFC grants in the future.
  • Applications received after the deadline will NOT be considered.

Due to the large volume of applications we receive, we are unable to acknowledge receipt of applications, and only candidates shortlisted for interviews will be notified