Thouron Award

The Thouron Award was established in 1960 by Sir John R. H. Thouron, K.B.E., and the late Esther du Pont Thouron. It was created to strengthen the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom through educational exchange between British universities and the University of Pennsylvania. Through the programme the Thourons sought to nourish and develop Anglo-American friendship by ensuring that, in the years to come, a growing number of the leading citizens of these two countries would have a thorough understanding of their trans-Atlantic neighbours. In the years since its founding, the Thouron Award has sponsored programs of graduate study for more than 650 fellows, known as Thouron Scholars.

Graduates of British universities receive support for up to two years of study – in any degree course – at the University of Pennsylvania, and Penn graduates may study at any university in the U.K. with up to two years of support. The Award, among the most generous exchange fellowships in the world, pays tuition and a stipend that covers room, board, and such extras as entertainment and travel.

The Exchange Programme was set up to bring young people of exceptional ability from each country into contact with the ideas and peoples of the other country. The experience of sharing different ways of life, of studying in a new academic and cultural environment, and of confronting viewpoints and assumptions that have long and varied pasts, fosters personal enrichment and maturity and contributes to deeper understanding of the people and the traditions of each country.

The founders of the Award believed that recipients of the Award should be chosen as much for their personal abilities and leadership potential as for their scholastic ability. Accordingly, Thouron Scholars are chosen on the basis of their "ambassadorial qualities" as well as their ability to succeed in their chosen academic programs. They should be able to act as representatives of their home country while being open to the different perspective of the country in which they do their academic program.

What distinguishes the Thouron Award from other fellowships is the close involvement of the Thouron family, beginning with Sir John and continuing through his son, “Tiger,” and now his grandson Rupert. The family has welcomed every Thouron Scholar to become part of their extended family by inviting them into their homes, entertaining them, and maintaining long-term contacts. With Thouron Scholars dispersed in careers around the world, the Thouron “family” has become truly global.

History of the Award

In the autumn of 1960 three British students, a geologist, an economist and a landscape architect, began their courses of study at the University of Pennsylvania as the first Thouron Fellows. In 1961 two graduates of the University of Pennsylvania arrived in the United Kingdom, an economist to the London School of Economics and a classicist to Balliol College, Oxford, as the first Fellows from the United States. Since that time over 500 Fellows have been selected.

Thouron Fellows have pursued degrees in a wide variety of fields. British Fellows have studied in all of the graduate and professional schools of the University of Pennsylvania. American Fellows have attended some 53 British educational institutions, with Cambridge, Oxford and the University of London attracting the majority of the Pennsylvanian students. In the 40 years of its existence the Thouron Award has played an influential role in shaping the lives and careers of its alumni. As new Thouron Fellows cross the Atlantic each year to take up or continue their studies, they provide an ever-strengthening link of co-operation between their respective countries.

References

* [http://www.thouronaward.org/ The Thouron Award website]
* [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/research-students/pgfunding/thouron/founders.html Brief biographies of the Award's founders]