What happened to the Fulbright Scholarship?

1. What is a Fulbright scholarship?

This scholarship program was initiated in 1946 by Senator J. William Fulbright from the United States and officially commenced in 1947. It is one of the oldest international scholarship programs in the world and spans 60 countries. In Indonesia, the Fulbright scholarship has been available since 1952.

The meaning of the Fulbright scholarship is not merely to assist students from developing countries in obtaining quality higher education in the United States. The primary goal of Fulbright is to serve as a tool of public diplomacy and soft diplomacy that strengthens the bond between the people of the United States and the world.

2. What happened to the Fulbright scholarship?

On February 12, 2025, the U.S. Department of State, as the ministry overseeing Fulbright, announced that this program has been suspended. So far, the suspension is in effect until April 19, 2025.

There are 7,400 foreign students currently studying in the U.S. and 3,500 U.S. students abroad affected by the suspension. Specifically for Indonesia, there are 191 students from the 2022-2024 academic year at risk of not receiving scholarship funds.

The American-Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF), as the administrator of Fulbright Indonesia, and the Embassy of Indonesia in Washington DC are striving to temporarily cover the costs for the students.

Fulbright subsequently disbursed funds for March, divided into weekly phases. However, it is not yet known whether the scholarship money will be provided in April. As a precaution, students are permitted to take on part-time jobs to meet their living expenses.

3. Why is there a suspension of funds?

The U.S. Department of State has suspended all international cooperation programs. In addition to Fulbright, the Gilman scholarships and critical language studies have also been frozen. No explanation has been provided regarding the reasons for the suspension, other than that these programs are currently under evaluation.

The actions of the U.S. State Department align with the program of U.S. President Donald Trump. Through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk, Trump aims to streamline bureaucracy. According to him, this could save government expenditures by up to 2 trillion U.S. dollars.

4. What is the impact of this efficiency?

Before Fulbright, the Agency for International Development (USAID) was closed and its entire staff was fired. Trump considered that giving development aid to other countries was a waste of US money.

Layoffs were also carried out in various federal ministries/agencies. In total, 30,000 employees have been fired, ranging from ministry staff to national park rangers.

Some layoffs end with requests to return to work. Take the Department of Agriculture and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) for example. After laying off thousands of employees, Trump and DOGE realized that the people at the Department of Agriculture were essential to combating the ongoing bird flu outbreak.

Likewise, NNSA staff who manage the balance of nuclear reactors were asked to return to work, but some employees were already angry with the government and refused to return.

5. Has efficiency been done before?

US President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 2001 also implemented efficiency. Through the National Partnership for Reforming Government (REGO) led by Vice President Al Gore, they laid off 426,000 employees.

However, unlike DOGE, REGO conducts in-depth studies in each ministry/institution. They listen to input from ministries/institutions on the types of efficiencies that should be implemented.

After six months, REGO issued an efficiency proposal with 400 proposals submitted to Congress. Once approved by Congress, the efficiency was carried out gradually. As a result, employees were not upset, the performance of ministries/agencies increased, and the government had a budget surplus.