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A Pacific islander has been chosen to receive the prestigious US Fulbright scholarship, the first from the region in more than a decade.
Siale Bain-Vete has family connections in Fiji and Tonga.
He was chosen after a competitive process for the Fulbright Scholarship program announced by the U.S. Embassy in Suva in 2008.
According to the embassy, three more South Pacific Islanders will also receive Fulbright Scholarships for study this academic year.
Bain-Vete will be undertaking a Masters in Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York.
Maxwell is a top-ranked American graduate school for public policy.
“This is a great challenge and I am also excited about being in the US at this particular time in history with President Obama in the White House,” he said, in a statement by the US embassy.
“Upon completion of the Fulbright, I intend to return to the Pacific to continue working in the area of social development. I am confident that I will be in a stronger position to make a more effective and meaningful contribution to development in Tonga, Fiji and the region.”
A mainstay of America’s public-diplomacy efforts, the Fulbright Foreign Student Program brings citizens of other countries to the United States for Master’s degree or Ph.D. study at U.S. universities or other appropriate institutions.
The program has drawn some of the world’s finest minds to U.S. campuses and offers program participants’ insight into U.S. society and values.
More than 1,800 new Foreign Fulbright Fellows enter U.S. academic programs each year.
The next round of applications for the Fulbright Foreign Student Program will be announced in April 2010.
