German-US-American Youth Exchanges

It is not surprising that the United States saw the strategic importance of mutual understanding as an important component of an ideal foreign policy for the post-war world. Just one month after the end of the war, the Surplus Property Act of 1944 was amended at the initiative of Senator Fulbright, allowing proceeds from the sale of surplus war property to be used to promote international goodwill through student exchanges. In 1945, he laid the foundation for the exchange program that bears his name: the Fulbright Program. In 2022, the German-American Fulbright Program, set up in 1952, celebrated its 70th anniversary. Some 40,000 Germans and US-Americans have so far participated in the program over its lifetime.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the youth exchange program People-to-People. The final legal basis for a post-war academic exchange program was created in 1961 through the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act. Also known as the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, co-initiated by Congressman Wayne Hays of Ohio, the act extended the program’s range to include other countries. It also led to the establishment of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which today carries out programs with 160 countries around the world and in which over one million Germans and US-Americans have participated so far.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the younger generation of Germans developed an increasingly skeptical attitude towards the United States. The fact that subsequent generations no longer recognized the same positive historical and cultural references with regard to transatlantic relations provided the impetus for the introduction of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange. US Senators John Heinz and Dick Lugar proposed setting up a German-US-American youth exchange program under the auspices of the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag. Senator Lugar explained the reasons in the Senate as follows: “The German-American relationship is unique. It is founded on the rubble of the Second World War, on the experience of occupation and reconstruction, on the reintegration of West Germany into Western Europe [...].“[1]

[1] Congressional Record - Senate, Washington, Thursday, September 22, 1983, p. 25264

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program is now almost 40 years old. The one-year scholarship enables 350 US-American and 360 German high school students, vocational school graduates and young professionals to spend time in each other’s country. Some 28,000 German and US-American scholars have so far participated in the program.

The U.S. Department of State and the Federal German Foreign Office also co-fund the German-American Partnership Program (GAPP), which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022. This program funds school partnerships and short-term group trips for students from all types of schools in both countries. Almost 9,000 young people participate annually. Around 350,000 young adults have so far travelled with the program.

Alongside the programs presented here, student exchanges as well as au pair and camp programs are also offered by numerous private providers and organizations.

What’s happening today?

Exchange programs play an important role in terms of foreign and security policy, yet they also have a social dimension since they promote integration, equal opportunities, diversity, and civic responsibility. Exchange programs are open to all school children and students from Germany and the United States. However, due to different access and funding opportunities as well as varying levels of awareness about the programs, not everyone participates.

Although the three programs mentioned above are scholarship programs, certain demographic groups of young people are generally poorly represented in exchange programs. The reasons for this are manifold. Including these important groups remains a key challenge, and one that must be tackled in line with the core objectives of exchange programs.

To correct this imbalance, some programs have been designed specifically to address to these poorly represented groups. For instance, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, which is named after the former Congressman, offers US-American students with limited financial resources scholarships to study or complete internships abroad.

In this spirit, in the 1990s the U.S. Embassy in Germany began to work with German partners to offer successful new initiatives geared specifically towards poorly represented German target groups. One example is the community service-based USA For You for students aiming to achieve a first or middle school diploma.

With the suspension of the majority of exchange programs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, there has been an increase in the use of digital formats. While experience has shown that they are not an equal substitution for in-person exchanges, they have led to the broader participation of young people and may therefore be a gateway towards participation in an in-person exchange.

More important than ever before

Exchange programs will continue to be an important driver of peace, civic engagement and equal opportunities. They have demonstrated their diplomatic value not only in transatlantic relations, but also globally. An exchange is a formative experience that helps eliminate prejudices about different nationalities and cultures and fosters valuable life-long connections. It has the potential to show young people how they can work together to tackle climate change, sustainable economics and business practices, extremism, and other challenges. In a speech on cultural diplomacy,  US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: