ABSTRACT
This chapter intends to concentrate on the US public funding for academic exchanges in order to analyze its impact on reinforcing this prevailing trend. Abroad, the Fulbright Program was managed by bi-national commissions established through diplomatic agreements signed by the US government with host countries. In the nations where there were no standing commissions, Nearly two thirds of the countries involved in the program do not have a local commission. In other words, the Fulbright Program focuses on students attending graduate programs in US universities, with very few foreigners delivering seminars or joining in as lecturers. As a result, it is safe to say that this program is a useful mechanism to internationalize the US academic system, with low influence of and receptiveness for offerings from peripheral scholars. CLACSOs project was driven by the concern that Latin American intellectuals were being educated and trained outside their region, fact clearly illustrated by the Fulbright Program and its steady growth since inception.
