Education Program Overview The East-West Center is a leader in educating people of the Asia Pacific region, including the United States, to meet the evolving demands and interdependency of global change. The Center offers a range of educational opportunities, bringing together more than 300 students each year from across the region.
EWC Graduate Degree Fellowship The East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship provides funding for up to 24 months for Master's or Doctoral degree study for graduate students from Asia, the Pacific, and the U.S. to participate in the educational, residential, and leadership development programs at the East-West Center while pursuing graduate study at the University of Hawai‘i. Through East-West Center affiliation, awardees become part of a growing network of students and alumni forging the shape and substance of the world's most vibrant region.
U.S. South Pacific Scholarship The U.S. South Pacific Scholarship Program, authorized by the U.S. Congress and funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, is a competitive, merit-based scholarship program that provides opportunities for Master’s and Bachelor’s degree study at the University of Hawai‘i in fields that are directly relevant to the development needs of Pacific island countries. Applications are typically due February 1 for study beginning the following August. Visit our website for complete details.
Research Program Overview The East-West Center Research Program engages the research and policy communities in the US and the Asia Pacific on issues of common concern. The goal is to provide more complete knowledge and deeper understanding of the environments, societies, economies, and governments of the Asia Pacific region.
Pacific RISA Project Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (Pacific RISA) program strives to enhance Pacific communities’ abilities to understand, plan for, and respond to changing climate conditions. Learn more about Pacific RISA.
Overview The Professional Development Program conducts all of the East-West Center’s short to medium-term capacity-building, leadership training, professional exchanges, career development, and high-level dialogue activities.
Leadership Program Leadership education at the East-West Center draws upon a deep well of experience. For over 50 years, the Center has been working with and producing leaders from diverse fields across the region.
Pacific Islands Tourism Professional Fellows Program The Pacific Islands Tourism Professional Fellows Program brings tourism industry professionals from the Pacific Islands to Honolulu, Hawai‘i for intensive six-week programs that build significant new capacity and facilitate enduring professional bonds between industry leaders in the United States and the Pacific Islands.
Seminars & Journalism Programs East-West Seminars offers short-term dialogue, field study, travel and exchange opportunities for working professionals in politics, government, civil society, business and the media who are in positions to affect policy, shape public opinion and influence change.
Asian Studies Development Program A joint program of the East-West Center and the University of Hawai’i, ASDP offers a variety of content-focused faculty and institutional development programs and activities centered around summer residential institutes, field seminars in Asia, workshops on the U.S. mainland, and an annual academic…
Congressional Program on US-Japan Relations and the Indo-Pacific (CPUSJ) CPUSJ is a bipartisan educational certificate program aims to equip congressional staffers with the information and analyses necessary to appreciate the role of Japan and the US-Japan alliance in US foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific, now and in the future. By also focusing on crucial forward-looking issues in US-Japan relations, CPUSJ is designed to provide staffers with a more comprehensive understanding of this relationship and its role in the region.
Congressional Staff Program on Asia CSPA is a bipartisan educational certificate program, which aims to equip Congressional staffers with greater knowledge of U.S.-Indo-Pacific policy in order to better understand America’s role in and engagement with this dynamic region and the policy implications that will directly engage Congress.
EWCA Announcements and News The East-West Center Association (EWCA) is an international network of professionals who have a past affiliation with the East-West Center. There are no membership fees to participate in the EWCA. The Association is led by an international Executive Board representing the various professions, regions, and decades of its members. Collectively, they are contributing to global understanding, building an Asia Pacific community, and making a world of difference.
EWCA Overview The East-West Center Association (EWCA) is an international network of professionals who have a past affiliation with the East-West Center. There are no membership fees to participate in the EWCA. The Association is led by an international Executive Board representing the various professions, regions, and decades of its members. Collectively, they are contributing to global understanding, building an Asia Pacific community, and making a world of difference.
EWCA Member Benefits With more than 65,000 alumni and associates around the world, the East-West Center has one of the largest networks of professionals working to advance international cooperation and understanding between the East and West. As part of that network, you can receive advice and support from associates throughout the region. As an alumni/associate you may join any one of the nearly 50 EWC alumni chapters in Asia, the Pacific and the U.S. While traveling, you can also contact local chapters for assistance in making contacts with colleagues and friends.
EWCA Social Networks The East-West Center Association maintains four main online networks to keep Alumni, Associates and Friends of the East-West Center communicating with each other. Join our EWCA Online Networks today!
Over the last 17 years, the Asia Pacific Leadership Program has collected testimonials from our participants on their personal experiences in the program. We are excited to share the words of our alumni below; click on the names to expand their testimonials. Soe Naing, Myanmar The APLP made me a better person. Everyday I am using the skills and knowledge I learned from the APLP. Before the APLP, all I knew was my country, Burma. The APLP opened my eyes and now I feel I belong to the whole world. Mitsuyo Lani Suzuki, U.S.A. The APLP has touched my life and continues to touch my life. The APLP experience was a life lesson encompassing so many different opportunities for growth and learning for me. I learned about the challenges of respecting each other’s differences when working together as a group. I learned about leadership: its role, function, and its relationship to culture. Living and learning in the company of Asians, Pacific Islanders, Americans and other participants was an opportunity for me to self-reflect upon my own cultural identity and role as an Asian-American born in Hawai‘i. I experienced the mighty clash of perspectives as we challenged each other’s assumptions and viewpoints as we struggled to find common ground without letting go of our individuality. We opened our hearts to share some of the personal struggles we faced in our lives and these stories of the heart transcended our cultural and political differences. Many nights we shared stories, food and laughter. The APLP was all of this and more - much, much more. I cannot thank you enough for providing us with this opportunity to laugh, cry, vent, argue, reflect, act, think, learn, love, and grow. Abhay, India One truly remarkable fact of life at the East-West Center is the amazing diversity of participants and the respect for diversity that this institution nurtures. Another is the spirit of critical inquiry that permeates all academic life here. It is the strength of the argument and not the rank of the person making the argument that evokes respect. A third is its deep engagement with the Asia Pacific region. A fourth is exposure to different aspects of U.S. policies.My time in APLP has exposed me to the very best in American academic and community life. Sun Jie, China One of the American APLP fellows asked me: what do you think about America? I answered: great country, great people, and great achievement. China should learn from America. The APLP is such an amazing experience. In it we learned how to learn and what to learn. I am convinced that the APLP is a treasure, not only now but also for the future. Justin Liang, U.S.A. Some of my fondest memories in the APLP — debating population trends in Asia over an authentic Bhutanese dinner, taking my Thai friends to surf Waikiki, and performing traditional Chinese songs at the annual East-West Fest — will remain etched in my mind forever, serving as a warm reminder that international relations has a very human side, and that cooperation and friendship between people can transcend geographic and political boundaries. Prakash Kafle, Nepal Before coming to the East-West Center I had a different view of America, one that represented a somewhat negative image of the country. My participation in the Asia Pacific Leadership Program has changed this view. It has provided me a forum to meet and interact with people from different walks of life including academia, business, media, and politics, who have different views and perspectives on national and international issues than that of the US government. I came to know that the US government may have a particular perspective or action on certain issues, but that does not necessarily mean that all Americans have the same view as that of the government. I will take back a positive image of United States, whose government and citizens have reaffirmed values of transparency, democracy and participation. Shanthini Black, Guam The world is smaller now because of the APLP. When I read in the newspaper about the events that occur around the world, I think of people I know and care about – true friends from the APLP – and I worry how current events will affect them. Jane D. Capacio, Philippines One of the important lessons that the APLP has taught me is that leadership is an active word. Many times in the past, leadership was simply given to me. But after the APLP, and given the nature of my job right now, I actively seek out new leadership opportunities. I’ve started to reconcile humility and leadership, quietness and assertiveness, deep awareness and innocence, the power of the majority and ultimate powerlessness before the universe. I’ve realized that it is okay to voluntarily step forward as long as I acknowledge that I don’t know everything and that I don’t need to do all things. Eun Kyong, South Korea The APLP was a new kind of challenge for me. It opened my eyes. To express the program in one word: AWESOME — It will be decorated as one of the great things that I did in my life. Isaac Souweine, U.S.A. It was through the APLP that I first started seriously thinking globally, internationally, inter-culturally, not in the abstract but in the very concrete confrontation of faces and ideas. Sheng Mei, China To me, the benefits of the APLP are beyond expression. The seminars exposed me to new knowledge, regional patters and trends, and professors and local leaders in Hawai‘i and beyond; the field trips made me ground theory in relevant real-world experiences; casual conversations and group projects gave me the chance to interact with and learn from keen minds; and off-campus life brought together a talented and diverse group of friends and mentors. Looking back on my APLP time, I found the experience has left a remarkable mark on me. Alexis Aik, Singapore The APLP prepared me for life and leadership in ways that I never could have learned through a typical text-book education. Take for example, the importance of "Vision" and how it creates focus and direction in life. This is the main factor which differentiates a leader from a manager. Uncertainties and obstacles may throw us off course in our journey through life, but a strong, clear vision propels us back on track and gives us confidence to proceed. On top of that, no other program, except the APLP, has allowed me to "customize" my education to incorporate what I needed to experience. What I learnt during my time with the APLP has and will continue to resonate throughout my life. Divinia Ojascastro, U.S.A. For me, the APLP has meant many things. It was a time for reflection — of understanding ourselves, our values and how our experiences have shaped who we are and what drives us. It was a time to dream, to envision, and to chart the many roads and paths we could create in service to the larger community. The time I spent writing in my journals and envisioning a better world that I could actively shape has had an immeasurable impact in the course of my direction and I have found greater enthusiasm to pursue my passions.APLP was also an opportunity to challenge ourselves—to learn and to share life experiences by allowing for differences, confrontation, and conflicting ideas, ideals, and belief systems, to keep in check our reality and to shake up our comfort level. I have found myself able to adapt better now, to change and to recognize opportunity in every experience.I have found that the lessons I carried from the APLP have led to dramatic changes in how I work as an active change agent and in my everyday life. Salamat po! Angela Fa'anunu, Tonga I felt really excited that night as I recaptured the feeling of APLP. I tried to imagine what direction my life would have taken had I not attended APLP…had I not met these wonderful people with unique personalities from all over the world, with dreams larger than life who, as I look back, taught me so much of the world without my realizing it. I tried to imagine what life would be like without the APLP? Would I have found the courage to face my fears? Would I still be studying something I wasn’t passionate and excited about? Would I have just “gone with the flow” rather than taking the initiative to try new things, to serve others and strive to create new futures? print