Wales.com

This summer, eight undergraduate students from across the United States spent six weeks at the Fulbright Commission’s UK Summer Institute in Wales. Hailing from universities in cities such as Chicago, Seattle, Tampa, New York and Pittsburgh the students all came to the UK with a common goal: to learn about the history and culture of Wales and to experience the day-to-day realities of contemporary Welsh life.

In order to provide its participants with as wide a view of Wales as possible, the Summer Institute was held at three different Welsh universities: Cardiff, Bangor and Aberystwyth. Each institution focused on different aspects of Welsh history and culture, planning bespoke academic sessions, educational field trips and outdoor activities for the eight students. The students spent two weeks at each Institution.

Each student commented that they felt privileged to have been able to spend their summer in Wales. They felt that during their time they got to see a side of the UK that was not represented in US popular culture and visited places that are not necessarily on the US tourist destination map. From field trips to Mynydd Parys Copper Mine, St Fagan’s National History Museum, Conwy, Caernarfon and Cricieth Castles to the National Library of Wales, the Centre for Alternative Technology and King Arthur’s Labyrinth they travelled the length and breadth of Wales discovering a country rich and varied in its history and innovative and dynamic in its present. The programme aimed to look at Wales on a local, national and global level as well as explore the contributions Wales is making to culture, politics and energy policy in the United Kingdom. Thus the students’ field trips were backed up by information-packed academic sessions on topics as diverse as "Regeneration in the South Wales Valleys", "Contemporary Welsh Language Policy", "Wales and Empire" and "A Sustainable Wales." The educational sessions and field trips were complimented by a series of outdoor adventures designed to highlight the stunning natural beauty of Wales. In Cardiff they drove up to Penarth to enjoy panoramic views of the bay, whilst in Bangor they visited Snowdonia National Park and went gorge scrambling up the Afon Ddu. In Aberystwyth they visited Llangrannog beach and completed a Go Ape! outdoor pursuits course.

Overall the students commented that they had a wonderfully enriching time in Wales. They enjoyed themselves immensely and learned a great deal about their host country with many wishing they could have stayed for longer than six weeks. They found Wales to be an incredibly hospitable country with excellent and engaging professors, warm and friendly inhabitants and a university staff willing to go above and beyond to look after them. Asked to describe the programme in five words, one student wrote that it was an "amazing, unforgettable educational and cultural experience."

All eight students have gone back to the States ready and eager to spread the word about Wales, their university hosts, the UK and Fulbright. The Fulbright Commission would like to thank all the university staff at Cardiff, Bangor and Aberysthwyth for the hard work they put in to making such a successful programme.

The Commission hopes to run between three and five Summer Institutes in the year 2012. We are currently accepting proposals from higher education institutions around the UK. We very much hope to run another Summer Institute in Wales next summer.