Fulbright Hungary May 2020 Update

What has been happening at Fulbright Hungary since the Covid outbreak arrived in early March?

March and April:

The Fulbright office has switched to a work-at-home model on March 13th, as the Technical University campus, including our building, closed that week and we do not know when the campus will reopen. We have access to the office if needed.

The State Department in March issued a level 4 travel warning covering all of the EU, and we had to ask our US grantees to leave Hungary at their earliest convenience. All but two US grantees have left Hungary by early April.

All but 5 Hungarian grantees in the US have returned already.

Despite rumors about the global Fulbright program, all of our grantees have been paid until the end of their original grant agreements.

Academic Year 2020-21:

There are several “known unknowns” and “known knowns” (credit to Secretary Rumsfeld) that directly affect our grantees already selected for Academic Year 2020-21.

The global Fulbright program will be fully reinstated on January 1, 2021.

All of our Hungarian and US grantees, with a few exceptions, will start their grants in January, most of them for the original duration of the grants. US students will be able to choose between 6, 7, and 8 month grants (taking them through August, 2021).

We will have 13 Hungarian students and 12 researchers, as well as 12 US researchers and 11 students during the 2020-21 academic year.

We do not know when:

a) the level 4 Travel Warning will be lifted for the EU,

b) when the US will allow EU citizens to travel to the US,

c) when the Schengen Zone will allow US citizens entry,

d) when airlines will fly again and

e) when US and Hungarian universities will reopen for real (on-line does not really count, as Fulbright does not support off-site, online-only enrollment).

Academic Year 2021-22:

Despite complete uncertainty, we are recruiting for the 2021-22 Academic year, and expect Hungarian applications to arrive at the end of May and in October. US students have an October 13th deadline and scholars face a September 15th deadline. We will interview Hungarian applicants as usual in late June and early July, as well as late November. These could be on-line for the first time ever, we shall see.