The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, announced a list of colleges and universities that produced the most 2012-2013 U.S. Fulbright Students — and UNL is on that list of the top 40 research institutions whose students were awarded Fulbright scholarships.

The success of the top-producing institutions is highlighted in the Oct. 28 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, at http://go.unl.edu/fulbrights2012. UNL made the list of top producers in 2011-2012.

Laura Damuth, director of national and international fellowships, administers the Fulbright U.S. Student program competition at UNL, advising students on applications.

Nine students from UNL won Fulbright awards for 2012-2013, making UNL the highest-ranking institution percentage-wise in the Big Ten. UNL submitted 27 applicants and nine were awarded, for a yield of 33 percent. Following UNL, Northwestern University had 22 percent; University of Illinois, 22 percent; University of Michigan, 28 percent; and Ohio State, 23 percent.

Damuth said UNL has one of the highest percentages of Fulbright application yield nationally — higher than universities like Princeton, Boston College, UCLA and Georgetown.

“I am very pleased that UNL students are doing so well in the Fulbright competition,” Damuth said. “It says a tremendous amount about our students, their academic preparation and the faculty support that is necessary to create a competitive application.”

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 310,000 participants — chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential — with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. In the past 65 years, more than 44,000 students from the United States have benefited from the Fulbright experience.

Almost 1,700 American students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study have been offered Fulbright Program grants to study, teach English, and conduct research in more than 140 countries throughout the world beginning this fall. In terms of total absolute numbers, University of Michigan led the way nationally last spring with 40 student awards followed by Harvard with 31 and Brown with 29.

Read more about the Fulbright student program at http://www.fulbrightonline.org/us.

— Kelly Bartling, University Communications