Fulbright academic and scientific exchanges between the U.S. and Romania started in the 1961.

As a result of the agreement concluded between the U.S. and the Romanian Governments on July 30, 1992, the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission was established in 1993. As a signatory party, the Romanian Government acknowledges the mission of the Fulbright program and pledges financial contributions toward it.

Since its inauguration in May 1993, the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission has administered an educational and cultural exchange program between the two countries and has offered scholarships on a nationwide competitive basis. Over 3,000 students, teachers, and scholars from both countries benefiting from this program.

An ECA-sponsored exchange program, the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) provides scholarships for high school students from Europe and Eurasia to spend an academic year in the United States, living with a family and attending an American high school.

The FLEX program was created by the U. S. Congress in 1992, and established a year-long, fully funded exchange program for secondary school students to travel to the United States for a year. Now in its twenty-third year, the FLEX academic year program has provided scholarships to over 24,000 secondary school students from Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia.  In 2019-2020, approximately 900 students will study in the U.S. on the FLEX program.  Each scholarship recipient will live for one year as a member of a U.S. host family and study in an American high school.  Approximately 20 students with disabilities are invited to the U.S. on the FLEX program each year, on being selected through competition based on the same criteria as the other participants.

Romania was included in the FLEX program in 2015.

American Councils for International Education, the organization that coordinates the FLEX, is an international nonprofit that creates educational opportunities. Today, there are over 55,000 alumni of American Councils’ programs in over 80 countries worldwide.  The programs are for high school students, university undergraduates and graduates, faculty, researchers, professionals, and administrators, both U.S.-based and overseas. The goals of the programs are to ensure equal access for talented individuals to high-quality international programs, based on the principles of transparency, academic merit, and open access regardless of economic, social or political status, race or gender, ethnicity or religion, or sexual identification.

Contact Info:

Ramona Omet
Program Coordinator
American Councils for International Education
1st District, Bucharest, Romania
Frumoasă Street, 8, Ground Floor, Apartment 2.
E-mail: flex.ro@americancouncils.org
Web: www.americancouncils.ro
Phone: +40 748 612 570

The mission of the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries to promote friendly, and peaceful relations. International Exchange Alumni supports this mission by providing a space for alumni of State Department and other U.S. government exchange programs to connect with other alumni and build upon their exchange experiences.

In August 2013, the Romanian U.S. Alumni Association was formed as a legal entity.  Membership is open to alumni of all United States Government exchange programs. They engage alumni from throughout the country in various programs and activities such as round-table discussions and speaker programs.