Fulbright Program Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2014

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2014 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, composed of Pedro Alonso Fernández, Enrique Barón Crespo, José María Bergareche Busquet, Eugenia Bieto Caubet, Gloria Fernández-Lomana García, Enrique Fernández-Miranda y Lozana, Duke of Fernández-Miranda, Anna Ferrer, Diego Hidalgo Schnur, Jerónimo López Martínez, Ricardo Martí Fluxá, Jaime Montalvo Correa, Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Marquis of Oreja, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Alfonso de la Rosa Morena, Luis Sánchez-Merlo Ruiz, chaired by Gustavo Suárez Pertierra and with Alicia Castro Masaveu acting as secretary, has decided to confer the 2014 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation on the Fulbright Program for educational and cultural exchange for enhancing and strengthening links and mutual understanding between the world’s citizens.

Established in 1946 by US Senator James William Fulbright, the Program is currently operating in over 150 countries and grants over 8,000 scholarships each year. The Program began operating in Spain in 1958 and has enabled a large number of students to access higher education of excellence in different universities and disciplines as a consequence of their academic and professional merit.

The Jury has prized the international nature of the Program, the will to improve the overall education of our young people by providing access to institutions of academic excellence, and the ability to engage civil society in each of the nations in which it is implanted.

This collective effort over more than half a century has resulted, among other things, in the creation of an extensive network of alumni who have contributed to the betterment of society, increasing collaboration and the exchange of ideas in a multicultural context.

Oviedo, 12th June 2014