LATIN AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES

Sponsor: Ford Foundation; U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. universities
Countries: Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru
Program focus: Undergraduate and graduate scholarships
Timeframe: 1964–1968
Description: The original program from which LASPAU’s name is derived, this cooperative venture initiated by Harvard University in 1964 provided full scholarships to colleges across the United States for outstanding Latin American youths of limited economic means.

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The original goal of the Latin American Scholarship Program of American Universities (LASPAU) was to provide opportunities for undergraduate study to academically exceptional young people in fields not available in their home country and for which there was a priority need. Thirty-four U.S. colleges launched LASPAU by offering 39 Colombian high school graduates a fully financed bachelor’s degree program. The students, selected in cooperation with the Instituto Colombiano de Especialización Técnica en el Exterior (ICETEX), undertook intensive English language training in Colombia in order to enter U.S. degree programs in September of 1965.

As soon as this first group obtained admission to U.S. universities, plans were set in motion for a second round of grantees. It had already become apparent to LASPAU’s founders that one of the great services the program could offer was to contribute to strengthening Latin American institutions. Consequently, the second group of students included both individuals who had recently graduated from high school and students who were already enrolled in Latin American institutions of higher education. The latter group committed to returning to their home institutions to teach on a full-time basis for a period of four years following the completion of their exchange programs.

In addition to students from Colombia, the group selected in 1965 to begin studies in the fall of 1966 included individuals from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. One hundred and forty LASPAU students were accepted at 130 U.S. universities.

With the second group of grantees, the U.S. Agency for International Development began covering the students’ maintenance, books, and incidental personal expenses. USAID also took over most of the administrative costs of the program, which had been covered by the Ford Foundation in the start-up phase of the effort. U.S. universities—who had fully funded the initial group of grantees—continued to provide tuition scholarships and to participate as dues-paying members of LASPAU. From this point onward, all of the grantees obtained English language training and/or cultural orientation at international training institutions in the United States.

In April 1966, LASPAU was incorporated as a nonprofit organization. That year, 200 students were selected and placed in 150 North American institutions to begin studies in the fall of 1967. This third round of grantees came from all of the countries previously participating as well as from Belize, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay. As with the second group, some had just graduated from high school and others had several years of university studies already behind them.

Having observed the progress of the first three groups of grantees, LASPAU determined that the program could best serve students who had undertaken prior university work. It was therefore decided that candidates selected to begin studies in the fall of 1968 would need to have completed at least three years of the normal five-year Latin American degree course. These young people would commit to returning to teach in the schools and universities of their home countries upon completion of their U.S. studies—the genesis of LASPAU’s longtime interest in faculty development. LASPAU would no longer offer a program for students who had only completed high school.

All 39 of the initial group of Colombian students obtained undergraduate degrees in the spring of 1968, closing out this chapter in LASPAU’s history. Thirty-two of these grantees gained admission on their own merits to U.S. graduate schools. The remaining five returned home at the conclusion of their undergraduate programs to begin teaching careers at universities in Colombia.