 hen Michelle Bachelet became president of Chile in March of 2006, she noted that despite the country’s recent economic growth, there was still much work to be done. “It is my firm belief,” she said, “that the beginnings of the 21st century pose great challenges for the countries of Latin America: overcoming poverty, consolidating our democracies, integration and peace, and articulating ourselves as an increasingly relevant actor as a region on the international stage. If we do not head in that direction, we are not going to be able to close the cultural and technological gap that threatens to exacerbate our worst problems: poverty, inequality, and exclusion, which the majority of our people firmly reject. They demand that we take concrete steps towards building a better world.”
Following her call to action, Bachelet’s administration is implementing a series of presidential initiatives, including the creation of new educational opportunities for Chilean citizens. One such effort is the MECESUP 2 Program: Educación Terciaria para la Sociedad del Conocimiento.
In July 2006, the Chilean Ministry of Education and the Fulbright Commission signed a formal agreement launching the five-year Fulbright–MECESUP 2 Program, which will provide scholarships for Chilean university faculty members to undertake graduate study in the United States. This agreement follows the success of the Fulbright–MECESUP 1 Program, which enabled 22 Chilean faculty members to obtain U.S. graduate degrees. The Fulbright–MECESUP 2 fellowships will be administered by LASPAU. The two scholarship initiatives are components of the program Mejoramiento de la Calidad y Equidad de la Educación Superior (MECESUP). Funded by a World Bank loan, MECESUP is designed to improve the quality and equity of Chilean higher education.
The Fulbright-MECESUP 2 Program is designed to support master’s level studies in education and doctoral level studies in other fields.
The grantees are being placed by LASPAU in U.S. university programs that will begin in the fall of 2007. They will be monitored by LASPAU for the four years of their grants.
For more information, please contact LASPAU Program Officer James Ito-Adler by email (james_ito-adler@harvard.edu) or telephone (617-495-1044).
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