Continuing a long tradition of students winning Gilman scholarships, Berea College was named the top U.S. college for having the most 2018-2019 Gilman International Scholarship undergraduates, 21, among colleges with enrollments under 5,000. Berea also was recognized in other categories, including top producers for first-generation students and top producer for most diverse destinations for studying abroad.
The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to the national security and economic prosperity of the United States. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) announces the top-producing institutions for the Gilman International Scholarship Program annually at the Diversity Abroad Conference.
“Berea students compete for this coveted scholarship against students from all over the USA,” said Dr. Richard Cahill, director of International Education. “More than 190 colleges and universities with student populations of 5,000 or less are in the “Small College and University” category in which Berea competes.”
Cahill went on to explain that most of those 190 colleges and universities are glad to have one or two Gilman recipients for an academic year, yet Berea has 21. By comparison, the Gilman Top Producer in the next size category up (5,000 to 15,000 students) had 22 Gilman scholarships.
“We are proud to honor the colleges and universities who have made the 2018-2019 Gilman top-producing institutions list,” said Marie Royce, assistant secretary of state for Educational and Cultural Affairs. “The Gilman students from these institutions are among our current and future global leaders, and we know their future work will contribute greatly to U.S. national security and people-to-people ties.”
The Gilman program is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with funding provided by the U.S. government and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education. The Gilman program provides more than 3,000 scholarships each year to outstanding American undergraduate students whose financial constraints might limit opportunities to study abroad.