1. The Department of State’s Office of Academic Exchange Programs, European Programs Branch (ECA/A/E/EUR) is requesting the revision of an existing information collection. This collection was formerly titled DOS-Sponsored Academic Exchange Program Application and Evaluation. Two application forms are part of this information collection. Each form will be used by separate programs administered out of ECA/A/E/EUR. Depending upon the program, either the DS-7001 or the DS-7005 will be completed by the respondent. The programs are the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD, DS-7005) and the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program (Muskie Program, DS-7001).
ECA/A/E/EUR and its partner organizations offer academic-year and semester-long exchanges and seminar opportunities to foreign nationals under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange (Fulbright-Hays) Act of 1961, as amended, Public Law 87-256, 22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq., the purpose of which is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchanges. Educational and cultural exchanges assist the Department of State in furthering the foreign policy objectives of the United States. These exchanges are defined by Section 102 of the Act, 22 U.S.C. 2452, and Section 101(a)(15)(J) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J). In the interest of acquiring the highest caliber of participants for its programs, ECA/A/E/EUR, through its partner organizations, disseminates applications throughout Eurasia and Central Asia. The data collected is used to determine whether prospective candidates are qualified for participation in the program.
2. The data collected from the application includes contact information, biographical information, education and employment history. These data are utilized by ECA’s partner organizations to determine whether a prospective candidate meets the program’s eligibility requirements and is qualified for participation in the program.
3. Respondents are able to submit applications through the mail, electronically, or in person. For an electronic submission, a fillable PDF is downloaded from the partner organizations’ website, completed, and returned to the partner organization via e-mail. The partner organizations began, as of FY 2004, to make online applications available. Approximately 49 percent of the total amount of applicants submitted the form electronically in FY 2010. There remains, however, the obstacle of the availability of such technology in the participant countries that would allow more applicants to apply online. Respondents are also able to submit applications in person at the offices of the partner organization.
4. No duplicate information exists. While follow-up inquiries may request updates on previously submitted information, respondents will not be asked to supply information already available to the Bureau. Information collected is retained by the partner organization as well as in a database maintained by ECA.
5. This collection of information does not have an impact on small businesses or other small entities.
6. ECA/A/E/EUR programs are administered on an academic year cycle. Applications for these programs are disseminated by the partner organizations once per academic year cycle for each program. To ensure eligibility for the programs this information cannot be collected by any other means or less frequently.
7. There are no special circumstances.
8. A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register on May 5, 2011, on page 25733. One comment was received in response. The public comment was not germane to the purpose of this collection; rather, it was a general statement questioning the relevancy of the activity and condemning the expenditure of Federal funds on foreign nationals. The State Department has consulted with partnering organizations that administer exchange programs, and they are satisfied that we are collecting the appropriate biographic information. Consultation with applicants from whom we collect the information is not appropriate because this information is necessary to carry out functions under a United State statute.
9. The Office of Academic Exchange Programs European Programs Branch does not provide payment or gifts to respondents in exchange for a benefit sought.
10. No assurance of confidentiality will be provided to the respondents.
11. No questions of a sensitive nature are asked.
12. The application task takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. The annual hour burden is estimated to be 5370 hours.
Task |
Respondents/year |
Responses/year |
Collection Conducted By |
Annual Hour Burden |
Total Annual Burden (hours/year) |
Application (Global UGRAD) |
3318 |
3318 |
Partner org. |
.75 hr |
2488 |
Application (Muskie)
|
3842 |
3842 |
Partner org. |
.75 hr |
2882 |
Totals |
7160 |
7160 |
Partner org. |
.75 hour |
5370 |
13. The only cost burden is associated with applications mailed in by respondents. Since the majority of respondents choose to drop off the application at the partner organizations’ field offices, the average number of applications mailed in is only 600. The average cost to mail an application is $2.00, which yields an estimated cost burden of $1,200.
14. Two employees of ECA/A/E/EUR spend approximately 5% of their time managing/coordinating this collection. Based on their estimated combined GS-13 salaries of $185,000, 10% x $185,000 would be $18,500 in annualized costs to the Federal Government.
15. The respondent numbers for the application have increased slightly from the 2008 estimates of 6,638 respondents to 7,160 respondents, resulting in a corresponding burden increase of 392 hours. The increased cost burden of $1200 is due to an increase in postage mailing rates.
16. ECA will not publish the results of this collection.
17. The Office of Academic Exchange Programs European Programs Branch will display the expiration date of OMB approval of the information collection.
18. Office of Academic Exchange Programs European Programs Branch does not request an exception to the certification of the information collection.
B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
This collection of information does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR |
| Author | MorganGM |
| Last Modified By | ciupekra |
| File Modified | 2011-09-20 |
| File Created | 2011-08-19 |