Carolina Asia Center Visiting Scholars

The Carolina Asia Center is accepting applications for Visiting Scholars. We require prospective scholars to apply at least six months in advance of their proposed start date, to allow sufficient time for processing.

Carolina Asia Center Visiting Scholars are mostly foreign nationals requiring a visa to travel to the USA as a visiting scholar. The CAC provides administrative support to obtain the visa, sets up the initial meeting with the faculty adviser and provides reporting for funding agencies as necessary. Although optional, the CAC also provides support to organize a lecture event for the Visiting Scholar to give a talk on his or her research to the academic community at UNC and the general public in the Chapel-Hill/Durham area.

The Carolina Asia Center offers the following resources to scholars:

• Access to UNC libraries
• Arrange meetings with Faculty Counterpart
• UNC OneCard (University ID Card) that will allow the scholar to access facilities at UNC. Additional fees may apply for accessing certain facilities such as gyms
• UNC email address
• UNC internet access
• Ability to audit courses offered at UNC with instructors’ permission
• Access to all talks and seminars sponsored or cosponsored by the Carolina Asia Center (CAC)
• Opportunity to present the scholar’s work (optional) at UNC, for which the CAC will provide a venue at the FedEx Global Education Center building and will help advertise the event
• Library Carrel (not guaranteed – dependent upon demand)

The Carolina Asia Center cannot offer the following:

• Funding
• Housing/Accommodation
• Logistic support to find housing, etc.
• Transportation (although UNC provides bus services for free in certain areas)
• Salary

Who Can Apply: In order to apply, you must be a mid- to senior- level professional with strong leadership skills, a scholar with a Ph.D., or a person with a teaching position at a university.

Fees: The CAC charges an administrative fee of $2,500 per semester (or six months) for all the services we provide.

The United States Government’s Minimum Requirement to Visit USA as a Visiting Scholar with J-1 Visa:

Sufficient Funding: The J-1 Exchange Visitor program at UNC requires a minimal funding of USD $2,000.00 per month. If you are planning to bring dependents, below is the additional amount required per dependent: 1) Spouse = USD $800.00 per month and 2) Child = USD $400.00 per month

Medical Insurance and Medical Evacuation and Repatriation Insurance requirements:

J-1 scholars are required to have a medical coverage during their stay in the United States. Following is the minimum coverage requirements. This is required of every scholar who comes to the United States of America as a Visiting Scholar with J-1 visa:

• Medical benefits of at least $100,000 per accident or illness;
• Repatriation of remains in the amount of $25,000;
• Expenses associated with medical evacuation of the exchange visitor to his or her home country in the amount of $50,000; and
• A deductible not to exceed $500 per accident or illness.

English Proficiency Requirement: The scholar must possess sufficient proficiency in the English language to successfully participate in the visiting scholar program and to function on a day-to-day basis in the United States, as determined by an objective measure of English language proficiency. Please consult these English language proficiency guidelines from the Office of International Student and Scholar Services at UNC for a list of accepted documents.

HOW TO APPLY

We require our applicants to apply for the program at least six months in advance. We encourage applicants to apply seven or eight months in advance of their anticipated start date, to allow sufficient time to process affiliation and visa paperwork.

Applicants are asked to provide personal information, a CV or resume, a research proposal for their time at UNC, the name of a sponsoring faculty member, documentation of English proficiency, and information about any dependents who will accompany the applicant.

• Personal information is used to run a background check on the applicant. This is required by UNC before any affiliation or visa paperwork can be processed, and it is requested up front to expedite the affiliation process. The Carolina Asia Center follows university protocols for the protection of sensitive data.
• The CV or resume should demonstrate the applicant’s qualifications to undertake a visiting scholarship at UNC. This will likely include both educational background and work experience, but should be relevant for the proposed research.
• The one-page research proposal should outline the applicant’s topic of research and the research methods that will be used. It may also include the reason why UNC is the right location for this research.
• Applicants should provide the name of a faculty counterpart for their research at UNC. This faculty counterpart should have overlapping disciplinary interests, not just an overlapping geographic interest. The Carolina Asia Center cannot accept applications without a faculty counterpart. For those scholars looking for a faculty counterpart, it may be helpful to look at the list of faculty affiliated to the CAC, who come from many varied disciplines.
• UNC requires documentation of English proficiency in order to process visiting scholars applications from overseas. The Office of International Student and Scholar Services provides more information on demonstrating English language proficiency at this link.
• If the applicant seeks to bring any dependents, the application also asks for the number and category of these individuals (spouse and/or child).

Those with further questions about the application process can contact the CAC Associate Director, Dr. Kevin W. Fogg.