Att_Supporting Statement for the Seminars Abroad April 23 2009

Supporting Statement for the Seminars Abroad Program

Application Packet

1. The Department of Education (US/ED) is responsible for administering the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad (SA) Program under authority of Section 102(b)(6) of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange (Fulbright-Hays) Act of 1961, as amended. The program is administered under the policies established by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB), a 12-member body appointed by the President. US/ED recruits and recommends candidates for seminar positions abroad in accordance with FSB policies, which support the purposes of the Fulbright-Hays Act.

The changes suggested are minor; i.e., the reordering of a sentence to enhance clarification and providing specific language to decrease the number of ineligible applications.

2. This information will be used by US/ED for the purposes of offering seminar opportunities for U.S. educators authorized by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange (Fulbright-Hays) Act of 1961, as amended. The data collected will be used to determine whether prospective candidates are qualified to participate in the program. In addition, applicants must be favorably recommended by three written references, and by a foreign language specialist, where applicable.

3. The SA application packet is available via US/ED Web site: www.ed.gov/programs/iegpssap/index.html. Ninety-nine percent of our applicants respond electronically.

4. The application for the SA program is program-specific information and is not duplicated within US/ED, nor is it collected by any outside agencies.

5. This information collection does not apply to any small businesses or entities.

6. The policy activities would not reflect the purpose and timeliness of the program if collected less frequently, i.e., less than annually.

7. This information collection does not include any of the special circumstances outlined under this item.

8. As we did in the 2006 application, the US/ED has held informal consultations with review panelists, previous seminar participants, and peer members of the academic community in preparing this application package. The appropriate 30 day federal register notice will be published soliciting public comment.

9. No payment or gifts are provided to respondents.

10. The Privacy Act statement included in this application package informs applicants who will have access to the information provided in their applications and for what purpose. Applicants are assured of the privacy of personal information based on Section 552 a(d) of the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Any information disclosed is in accordance with those Acts..

11. No questions of a sensitive nature are asked in this report.

12. The burden of the applicants is estimated at an average of three hours for each applicant and includes the time needed to get references. We have checked with our respondents and they have indicated that this amount of time is accurate.

Program	Number of Respondents	Frequency of Response	Hours	Total Burden Hours	Wage		Total Cost
Applicant respondents	400	Once	3	1,200	$31/hour	$37,200.00
Total	400			1,200		$37,200.00

13. There are no additional costs to the applicants other than those mentioned under

statement number twelve.

14. Estimated annualized cost to the Federal Government:

Task	Cost	Hours	Number	Total Cost to USG
Securing OMB approval (every 3 years)	$60/hr	60		$3,600.00
Initial application design	$30/hr	15		$450
Application design (every 3 years)	$30hr	15		$450
Logging in, review and data entry of applications (1 hour per application; 400 applications)	$36/hr	1	400	$14,400
Review of applications for eligibility (.5hr/400 applications)	$36/hr	.5	400	$7,200
Academic Panel Review (Outside reviewers)				$30,000
Total				$56,100.00

15. The burden of the applicants is an average of three hours for each applicant and includes the time needed to obtain references. There is no change in burden.

16. The US/ED is not planning to publish any information from this collection.

17. The US/ED will display the expiration date.

18. No exceptions are being requested.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

Collection does not employ statistical methods.