JEDDAH, 11 April 2006 — A Fulbright senior specialist is conducting a six-week visiting scholar course at Effat College. Nancy Scannell, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, joined the Business Administration Department at Effat and gave courses on probability, statistics and finance.
At a roundtable discussion with some reporters on Sunday, she spoke highly of her experience here, especially of the students and staff at Effat, and of the benefits of such exchange programs.
One of the best features of the program is its flexibility, which allows the scholar and the institute to agree on what they would like to do and to do it within a short period of time ranging from two to six weeks.
“International educational exchange is the most significant current project designed to continue the process of humanizing mankind to the point, we would hope, that nations can learn to live in peace.” Those were the words of J. William Fulbright, who established the Fulbright Program in 1946.
It is the flagship international education exchange program sponsored by the US government and designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries.
Since its establishment, 44,700 Fulbright visiting scholars have concluded research or taught in US universities and more than 42,800 Fulbright US scholars have engaged in similar activities abroad.
Kerry Laufer of Effat College said that the college wanted to facilitate this program for other colleges and universities in order for more institutions to benefit from it.
Scannell will be back at Effat next year as consultant to offer an executive education program through Effat College’s extension program. This offering will be especially beneficial to busy professional women in a variety of fields who are interested to learn the mechanics of finance and to understand how to interpret financial current events in the news media.
