Today, we are announcing a $3.1 million commitment to the Institute of International Education (IIE) to support the China – U.S. Scholars Program. Through this funding collaboration, one-time grants will be made to IIE to administer the program. It will support 48 Chinese and American faculty and students in the arts, humanities and social sciences with opportunities to conduct research, study or teach abroad in China or the U.S. in 2021-22.

Our organizations have championed exchanges and dialogue between the peoples of China and the U.S. for decades. People-to-people exchanges between these countries have resulted in scientific and medical collaboration; greater awareness of Chinese and American arts, cultures, histories and societies; and diplomatic breakthroughs when formal dialogues were constrained. The two countries’ rich scholarly traditions and world-class universities make such achievements possible.

Academic exchange programs are a cornerstone of public diplomacy and are especially effective during challenging geopolitical periods. We make this one-time commitment at a time when many government-funded academic exchange programs between China and the U.S. have been suspended. This initiative signals the critical importance we place on people-to-people engagement and will ensure that some level of exchange between our two countries continues through the next academic year.

It is our hope that the fellowship – and more importantly the academic collaboration, teaching, research and exchange it facilitates – will inspire the resumption of such government-supported programs for the future.

Our world, and the peoples of China and the U.S., need this opportunity for cooperation more than ever.

Carnegie Corporation of New York*
Ford Foundation
Harvard-Yenching Institute
Henry Luce Foundation
Rockefeller Brothers Fund

IIE is headquartered in New York.

*Carnegie Corporation of New York’s grant is pending the Board of Trustees’ approval at its early March meeting.