On the 14th November 2017, ASE held its weekly seminar. U.S. Embassy representatives came to share with the audience resources that their library can provide and information on scholarships. To start the meeting, Cyrille Vito introduced Bienvenu Akodigna as well as Laurent Akpo, respectively Director of the Kennedy-King Library, and Cultural Affairs Assistant at the U.S. Embassy Cotonou.

The session started with a welcoming word from Dean Claude Domfang before the floor was given to the guests. Presenting resources of the library, Mr. Akodigna said ‘’I do believe that there is no learning without reading”; he then presented resources which can help improve English learning, such as books in a variety of domains like the social sciences, business administration, history, and economics. He also discussed the LibraryUSA platform, learning and listening sessions, the Pismsleur program, opportunities for conversation, and the TED Talk sessions.

After Mr. Akodigna’s presentation, Mr. Akpo presented on scholarship opportunities, specifically the Fulbright and Humphrey. Fulbright is a scholarship program that sends Americans citizens around the world and also brings citizens of other countries to U.S to promote mutual exchange. Mr. Akpo explained that it is a program established by Senator J. William Fulbright shortly after the end of World War II. Unlike Fulbright, which lasts two or more years, Humphrey is an internship program that lasts around 10 months. Both are fully funded by the Department of State. The Fulbright and Humphrey programs both also require applicants to have high TOEFL scores, preferably over 90 points. The highly informative session ended with a Q/A session and a group picture.