FISI 2004

The third Fulbright International Summer Institute was held in the beautiful mountain resort of Pamporovo on August 2-14. It offered ten courses in a wide variety of areas: globalization, U.S. foreign policy, transatlantic relations, EU enlargement, negotiation and conflict resolution, Bulgarian culture, Bulgarian language etc. There were 50 participants from the U.S., Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Georgia and Uzbekistan. Most of the students received merit-based scholarships. Among the participants were also the AY 04-05 U.S. Fulbrighters and the Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar participants.

FISI 2004 was a big success. A special feature of the third FISI was that it was preceded by the 6th biennial Fulbright conference on "Strengthening Transatlantic Cooperation and European Integration through Educational and Cultural Exchange". Participating in it were some 50 distinguished scholars and educators from Bulgaria, the U.S. and the Balkan region. In the course of two days they discussed the role of education and academic exchanges, patterns of transatlantic interactions in the context of EU enlargement, challenges of intercultural communication, international cooperation in the Black sea region, national identity and migration, the role of the humanities and the media in the formation of cultural identities as well as many other issues related to the main theme.