The Cabinet of the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, under the auspices of the Wife of the President, Elizabeta Gjorgievska, marked today the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright program, which has been attended by about 400 thousand people from around the world.
Emphasizing that in the past decades the program has enabled professional and personal development of 298 Macedonian citizens, President Pendarovski said that we need people who will contribute to the development of society and the state in all areas.
“Fulbright and other international programs provide added value and clear results of investing in human capital. As a country not highly industrialized, without an ideal geographical position and many natural resources that enable rapid economic growth, we must rely on human resources. It implies enabling the most capable, the most educated, the most skilled, the wisest and certainly the most moral among us to come to the positions where the quality of our lives is decided”, President Pendarovski said.
As one of the participants in Fulbright, the Wife of the President, Elizabeta Gjorgievska, said that the program offers opportunity for professional development and acquisition of knowledge, but also opportunity to meet different cultures, different philosophies of living, communication and sharing experiences with people with rich professional, but above all with vast human and life experience.
“It is a pride to be part of the large family of Fulbright participants. It is a family of people from different meridians, people from different nations, different religions, different professions, different interests, but what is common to all is the commitment, the desire for improvement and research, the pursuit of better and more beautiful, because it leads everyone the maxim: “Scientia vincere tenebras” or “Science conquers darkness”, Gjorgievska said in her address.
The President’s Wife, Gjorgievska, told several Fulbright alumni present that 39 heads of state and government have participated in the program so far, as well as 60 Nobel Prize winners.
“When President Truman signed the visionary act to establish the Fulbright program in 1946, no one could have imagined that today, after 75 years, not only would this program continue to exist, but it would expand every day, that it will function globally in more than 160 countries in the world”, Gjorgievska added.
Ambassador Kate Marie Byrnes, Minister of Education and Science Mila Carovska, also addressed the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright program, organized in coordination with the US Embassy,while Marianne Craven, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs at the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs addressed the event via video message.
