The scholarship program under this chapter shall be carried out in accordance with the following guidelines:

(1) Consistent with section 2460(b) [1] of this title, all programs created pursuant to this chapter shall be nonpolitical and balanced, and shall be administered in keeping with the highest standards of academic integrity.

(2) United States missions shall design ways to identify promising students who are in secondary educational institutions, or who have completed their secondary education, for study in the United States. In carrying out this paragraph, the United States mission in a country shall consult with Peace Corps volunteers and staff assigned to that country and with private and voluntary organizations with a proven record of providing development assistance to developing countries.

(3) United States missions shall develop and strictly implement specific economic need criteria. Scholarships under this chapter may only be provided to students who meet the economic need criteria.

(4) The program shall utilize educational institutions in the United States and in developing countries to help participants in the programs acquire necessary skills in English and other appropriate education training.

(5) Each participant from a developing country shall be selected on the basis of academic and leadership potential and the economic, political, and social development needs of such country. Such needs shall be determined by each United States mission in consultation with the government of the respective country. Scholarship opportunities shall emphasize fields that are critical to the development of the participant’s country, including agriculture, civil engineering, communications, social science, education, public and business administration, health, nutrition, environmental studies, population and family planning, and energy.

(6) The program shall be flexible in order to take advantage of different training and educational opportunities offered by universities, postsecondary vocational training schools, and community colleges in the United States.

(7) The program shall be flexible with respect to the number of years of undergraduate education financed but in no case shall students be brought to the United States for a period less than one year.

(8) Adequate allowance shall be made in the scholarship for the purchase of books and related educational material relevant to the program of study.

(9) Further allowance shall be made to provide adequate opportunities for professional, academic, and cultural enrichment for scholarship recipients.

(10) The program shall, to the maximum extent practicable, offer equal opportunities for both male and female students to study in the United States.

(11) The United States Information Agency shall recommend to each student, who receives a scholarship under this chapter for study at a college or university, that the student enroll in a course on the classics of American political thought or which otherwise emphasizes the ideas, principles, and documents upon which the United States was founded.

(Pub. L. 99–93, title VI, § 604, Aug. 16, 1985, 99 Stat. 440.)