Nine Cambodian Fulbright grantees are ready to leave for the U.S. to do masters degree at the U.S. universities.
Joseph Mussomeli, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, at the meeting with those students on Wednesday morning, says that getting this scholarship is significant for Cambodia and after civil war, education plays an important role in country development and that Fulbright grantees are young, professional, and responsible people and will come back to work for their country.
These Fulbright grantees also act as cultural ambassadors for their own country. Every year more than 1,300 students around the world receive Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S.
The U.S. government resumed offering the Fulbright scholarship in 1994. Since then there have been 75 Cambodian students received the Fulbright scholarship.
Peou Chivoin, who chooses to major in media theory and research, says he chooses this field because in Cambodia media field recently started to develop, and the U.S. is the country where media is significantly privatized. Therefore, it is important for himself as well as his society.
Chea Chou, doing masters in Media at Michigan States University, says she is very proud to have an opportunity to study in the U.S. as she is able to learn new knowledge about the selected major, learn about cultures from other students and share her cultures with those students.
Kol Pheng, Minister of Education, encourages those students to try hard and maintain their culture and values as Cambodians. U.S. Department of States offers USD450,000 a year for Fulbright program in Cambodia. U.S. universities that accept Cambodian Fulbright grantees also contribute to this program with about 200,000 a per years