DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program

By Caty Weaver

This is the VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT.

The Ford Foundation has begun a new program to help foreign college graduates seeking higher level education. Ford Foundation President Susan V. Berresford announced the International Fellowship Program in New York City recently.

Mizz Berresford said the program will provide two-hundred-eighty-million dollars for students in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Russia. The money will assist about three-thousand-five-hundred students during the next ten years. Candidates must have a university or college degree and be seeking an advanced degree.

The International Fellowship Program is the Foundation's largest financial assistance program. Mizz Berresford said its goal is to help countries develop future leaders from lower economic and social levels.

The program aims to help people who would not be able to continue their education on their own. This includes women and members of ethnic or religious minorities. The program will also help people who live in agricultural areas away from major cities or who are from countries in conflict.

The program will choose students based on their leadership abilities and educational records. It will choose candidates who support community or national development. The fellowships will pay for three years of masters' or doctoral studies at universities around the world. It will provide money for school tuition, books, equipment and training. The program also will provide money for a student's travel and living costs.

In return, students must seek graduate training in subjects that support Ford Foundation goals. These include strengthening democratic values and international cooperation as well as reducing poverty and injustice.

The program has begun operating in seven countries. They are Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Chile, Peru, Russia and Vietnam. The program expects to be established in ten to twelve more countries by the end of next year.

The Ford Foundation also has created a program for undergraduate study. It is called Pathways to Higher Education. This program will help successful foreign high school students who would not have a chance to study at a university. The Pathways program will provide fifty-million dollars to increase the education of such students.

This VOA Special English DEVELOPMENT REPORT was written by Caty Weaver.