About the FANTEL Scholarship Program

In September 2001, El Salvador's Ministry of Education announced the creation of FANTEL, a national development fund created from the privatization of the country's telephone company, ANTEL. One component of the fund is a scholarship program, FANTEL Scholarships for Higher Education, which provides academic and professional opportunities to Salvadoran citizens who show outstanding ability in their areas of academic specialization.

The FANTEL scholarships will support undergraduate and graduate studies both at home and abroad. They are intended to increase the numbers of top-level students who can undertake studies in El Salvador and of students, faculty, and researchers who can enhance their skills though study abroad. The scholarship program gives priority to studies in the fields of science and technology, but also funds studies in social sciences, humanities, and the arts.

The FANTEL Scholarship Program is administered on behalf of the government of El Salvador by an educational consortium composed of Fundación para la Educación Integral Salvadoreña (FEDISAL) of El Salvador and LASPAU: Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas. The two organizations have created a partnership to jointly manage all facets of the program. The consortium, FEDISAL–LASPAU, has established a separate FANTEL scholarship office in San Salvador to serve potential candidates.

About FEDISAL

The Fundación para la Educación Integral Salvadoreña, FEDISAL, is a private nonprofit institution affiliated with the Universidad Don Bosco. Founded in 1992 by members of the business community and the Institución Salesiana de El Salvador, its principal mission is to promote the development of the Salvadoran population through social programs and education initiatives.

FEDISAL specializes in the development and administration of social and educational projects and, since its inception, FEDISAL has implemented a number of projects at the national level. Through its relationships with national and international organizations, FEDISAL has developed and administered a range of initiatives, including the coordination and implementation of transparent processes and high quality student services at a number of educational institutions in El Salvador.

FEDISAL's many innovative social projects have awarded it prestige and credibility from national and international organizations (such as, INSAFORP, CONAMYPE, Ministerio de Trabajo, FISDL, USAID, BID, GTZ, the World Bank, and OIT). At the same time, FEDISAL continues to develop relationships with the business sector and with trade unions such as ANEP, ASI, Cámara de Comercio, AMPES, and CASALCO.

About LASPAU

Established in 1964, LASPAU is a nonprofit organization affiliated with Harvard University and governed by an inter-American board of trustees. LASPAU designs, develops, and administers academic and professional development programs for sponsoring agencies including the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Kellogg Foundation, and multilateral organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank.

LASPAU international student services include program promotion; grantee recruitment, selection, and placement; English language training and cultural orientation; program monitoring; and financial services. In addition, LASPAU offers customized services that extend beyond the traditional scope of educational exchange. These include distance learning and online services; the development of new types of programs and programmatic areas to address regional issues; and consulting in areas such as program evaluation, needs assessment, program design, student aptitude testing, and educational reform.

To date, over 13,000 grantees from 900 institutions in 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries have earned degrees through LASPAU-administered programs and returned to professional responsibilities in their home countries. Each year LASPAU welcomes almost 600 new grantees; at any one time, more than 900 recipients are enrolled in over 400 universities worldwide. In all, over 1,800 institutions in the United States and other countries have hosted LASPAU grantees.