U.S. Embassy in Georgia

2024-2025 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program

The United States Embassy in Tbilisi is pleased to announce the annual competition for the 2024-2025 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, a Fulbright exchange, that enhances leadership among international professionals who collaborate to address local and global challenges and foster change for our collective good. Through academic study and professional development with U.S. counterparts, this growing global network shares best practices and builds expertise in fields of critical importance to advance societal and institutional capacity, promote human rights and freedoms, ensure sustainable lands, and develop thriving communities. By providing future leaders and policy makers with experience in U.S. higher education, society, culture, and professional organizations, the program provides a basis for lasting, productive ties between Americans and their professional counterparts overseas.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was established in 1978 as a Fulbright exchange that advances U.S. foreign policy goals through the exchange of mid-career professionals representing approximately 140 eligible countries from all world regions. Humphrey Fellows work in critical fields for collaboration, such as law and human rights, public health and infectious diseases, climate change, and food security. During their fellowship, Humphrey Fellows participate in non-degree study at approximately 13 host campuses across the United States and complete at least six weeks of a professional affiliation at a U.S.-based governmental, non-governmental, private sector, or international organization. Through their academic and professional experiences, they gain knowledge about the United States, deepen their professional expertise, and experience in their field, and expand their networks to include U.S. and international counterparts.

Humphrey Fellowship Program sponsor is the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State. The Program is administered under a cooperative agreement with the Institute of International Education (IIE).  These two agencies work in partnership with a network of universities which are competitively selected to host Fellows.  The recruitment and selection for the Humphrey Fellowship Program is conducted by the U.S. Embassy in Georgia.

Program Components:

Non-Degree Academic Study: Humphrey Fellows pursue tailored study programs at participating host institutions, where freedom from the requirements of a degree program gives each Fellow the flexibility to pursue a self-directed, individualized program at a host campus. Approximately 13 U.S. campuses have been selected through a competitive process based on their ability to offer institutional and professional resources to host cohorts of Fellows in designated fields of study. Humphrey Fellows may not request placement at any particular university. Each campus has at least one designated faculty coordinator for academic and administrative support. In addition, faculty advisors assist Fellows in pursuing balanced academic and professional programs. Even though Fellows will spend time in an academic setting and are able to take classes at a U.S. university, the Humphrey Fellowship Program is classified as a non-degree program, and Humphrey Fellows cannot transfer from non-degree status to degree status under any circumstances during their program. 

Leadership and Professional Development: Professional enrichment activities include professional visits, enhancement skills workshops, conferences, training programs, and a professional affiliation (placement). The professional affiliation provides firsthand exposure to a U.S. work environment on a full-time basis for a minimum period of six weeks. Early in the academic year, each Fellow develops, with assistance from the local campus coordinator and faculty advisors, a detailed plan of practical professional activities geared to the Fellow’s program objectives.

Fields of Study:

Human and Institutional Capacity:

• Economic Development
• Finance & Banking
• Public Policy Analysis and Public Administration
• Technology Policy and Management
  

Rights and Freedoms: 

• Communications and Journalism
• Law and Human Rights
  

Sustainable Lands:

• Agricultural and Rural Development
• Natural Resources, Environmental Policy, and Climate Change
• Urban and Regional Planning

Thriving Communities:

• Public Health Policy and Management
• Substance Abuse Education, Treatment and Prevention (see 4b)
• Educational Administration, Planning, and Policy

• Note on Substance Abuse Education, Prevention, and Treatment field: ECA cooperates with the National Institute on Drug Abuse which provides some co-funding to work with Humphrey Fellows in the field of substance abuse. Candidates must have either a research background in the field or demonstrated ability to learn the results and policy implications of current research. The candidates should be recruited and ranked together with candidates in other fields and must complete the supplementary field-specific page of the application for this topic area.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Appropriate candidates are mid-career professionals in leadership positions who have demonstrated a commitment to public service and the potential for professional advancement.
• Candidates should have both the need to participate in the program and the potential to benefit from it. Accordingly, they should demonstrate the required experience, skills, and commitment while also indicating how they can benefit from this program in ways that they have not experienced previously and are not likely to experience without the Humphrey Fellowship. 
• Prospective Fellows should have a minimum of five years full-time professional experience (prior to August 2023) in the relevant field and should be interested in the policy aspects of their field of specialization. Candidates must have completed a university degree program requiring at least four years of full-time study to qualify for participation in U.S. graduate study programs. 
• Candidates should generally be proficient in both written and spoken English as demonstrated by a minimum TOEFL score of 71 (internet-based), although exceptionally promising candidates with lower scores may be considered for one of the two English training programs (LTE and Pre-Ac). Currently, two opportunities for English training in the United States are available for excellent candidates who are lacking the necessary language skills: 1) Long-Term English (LTE) language training is an intensive 16-week program; and 2) Pre-Academic English (Pre-Ac) language training is an intensive 8-week course. Applicants with TOEFL scores between iBT61/85 Duolingo and iBT 71/95 Duolingo, may be assigned to the 8-week pre-academic English training program beginning around June 1, 2024. English language training participants will train together in groups at different campuses and then transfer to their academic-year host campuses after completing LTE or Pre-Ac. 
• U.S. universities require current English language test scores for Humphrey candidates from all countries. Nominees who successfully pass the interview stage should take the TOEFL in September 2023. Registration information and test expenses will be provided and covered by the U.S. Embassy Tbilisi.

Possible Ineligibility:

A candidate may be removed from consideration if they do not meet all technical eligibility requirements. Incomplete applications may result in the candidate being technically ineligible for the program and unable to move forward in the selection process.

Ineligible candidates include:

• Recent university graduates (even if they have significant positions); 
• University teachers or academic researchers with no management responsibilities (except in the fields of Substance Abuse Education, Prevention, and Treatment and Teaching of English as a Foreign Language); 
• Individuals who have attended a graduate school in the United States for one academic year or more during the seven years prior to August 2023;
• Individuals with U.S. in-country experience of any kind lasting more than six months during the five years prior to August 2023; and individuals with dual U.S. citizenship or U.S. permanent resident status may not apply to the program; they are ineligible for a J visa.
• According to the policies of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB), local employees of U.S. Missions abroad who work for the U.S. Department of State, or the U.S. Agency for International Development, including temporary employees and contractors, and members of their families as well as individuals who work for or are otherwise associated with an organization that is responsible for nominating or selecting individuals for participation in any ECA exchange program are ineligible for grants during the period of their employment and for one year following the termination of employment.

 Application Form:

Applicants interested in the program who meet the criteria as outlined above should complete an online application in the Slate system. Online Humphrey Fellowship Program application is located at https://apply.iie.org/huberthhumphrey 

Travel Documents and Dependents:

• Medical exams are not required as part of the initial application process. It is not necessary to complete medical evaluation forms until a candidate is advanced to principal status.
• Humphrey Fellows may bring dependents on J-2 visas to accompany them while in the United States if they meet all criteria described in this paragraph. Dependents may not accompany Fellows to English language training or arrive during the first month of the program. Fellows who wish to have an exception made to this rule must receive prior approval. All expenses for J-2 dependents must be covered by the Fellow. The Humphrey Fellowship stipend is sufficient only to support the Fellow. IIE and ECA will conduct a technical review of evidence that they have adequate personal funds to cover living expenses, dependents’ health insurance, and childcare (if needed). Health insurance for dependents is required and may cost USD 200 per month per dependent. 

Get additional information about the Humphrey Fellowship, host universities, and program alumni.

If you are unable to upload the application, please send an email to TbilisiExchanges@state.gov  with the subject line “2024-25 Humphrey Fellowship Program”.