Egypt’s Fulbright Commission Helps Northeastern University Visitors Connect with Egyptian Students

When twenty undergraduate students from Northeastern University visited Egypt in January 2006, Egypt’s Fulbright Commission brokered an evening that brought them together with nearly three dozen Egyptian Fulbright students and alumni, male and female, graduate and undergraduate. During the evening’s discussion a range of social issues were raised: dating; marriage and divorce; modesty and the veil; stereotypes about Egyptians and Americans; minorities in America; religion in both countries; health care and the public education; political reform in Egypt.

The Northeastern visitors later said that the dialogue had provided an open and frank perspective on Egypt and on young Egyptians’ views of America and Americans. Through programs like this the Commission vitalizes Senator Fulbright’s original mandate: “mutual understanding through mutual educational exchange.”