Beyond Business: Strengthening Ties Through Academic Exchange

Introduction

While business and investment headlines often define the U.S.-Serbia relationship, academic and cultural exchanges quietly serve as a powerful, underutilized pillar of bilateral cooperation. Programs such as Fulbright, FLEX, and university exchanges have not only produced scholars and professionals, but also forged durable, personal bonds between two countries that otherwise lack deep diplomatic infrastructure.

With proven economic and diplomatic returns, these programs generate American allies for Serbia across academia, civil society, and government. However, they now face existential challenges: proposed U.S. budget cuts threaten to dismantle much of the educational diplomacy architecture that has taken decades to build. Serbia, meanwhile, can and should take proactive steps to become a more attractive and accessible destination for American students and researchers.

This analysis outlines how both countries can strengthen this overlooked avenue of cooperation. For Serbia, it is a matter of visibility, accessibility, and targeted outreach. For the United States, it is a matter of strategic foresight.

Serbia and the Power of Personal Connection

In 2011, Serbian-American executive Marija Živanović-Smith helped guide NCR Voyix’s decision to open a branch in Belgrade, now employing over 6,000 people. Motivated in part by her heritage, her case reflects a broader trend of diaspora professionals reinvesting in their country of origin.

But Serbia’s engagement with the United States should not depend solely on diaspora ties. The central question is whether that same personal connection can be cultivated among Americans with no ancestral link to Serbia. Cultural and academic exchanges provide the clearest path forward. By enabling Americans to study, teach, or conduct research in Serbia, a new generation of informal ambassadors can emerge, individuals who will carry their experience into U.S. institutions, companies, and policy circles.

Existing Programs: U.S.-Serbia Academic Ties in Action

FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange Program)

FLEX brings Serbian high school students to the United States for a full academic year of study and community service. These students not only gain language proficiency and cultural fluency, but also return home with a deeper appreciation for civic engagement and democratic values.

Fulbright Program

One of the most prestigious academic exchange platforms globally, Fulbright supports American scholars, graduate students, and English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) working with Serbian universities, NGOs, and public-sector institutions. The program produces original research and fosters durable partnerships. Upon returning, American participants help shape public discourse and policy through their new understanding of a region often marginalized in U.S. foreign policy.

YES Abroad Program

Although Serbia is not currently a host country, the YES Abroad program places American high school students in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in Republika Srpska, home to a significant Serbian community. These experiences frequently serve as stepping stones to further engagement with Serbia, laying the groundwork for long-term cultural and professional interest.

Student Exchange as Personal Diplomacy

One of the authors of this analysis first encountered Serbian culture through the YES Abroad Program in Banja Luka. What began as a high school exchange evolved into a years-long journey of learning the Serbian language, promoting Serbian culture online, and studying abroad in Belgrade through the Clemson University partnership.

This trajectory exemplifies how immersive educational experiences become powerful and personal forms of diplomacy. By replacing stereotypes with relationships, such exchanges cultivate a sense of shared humanity and interest, something that no policy memo or summit can replicate.

Beyond national programs, specific university-to-university partnerships have made significant contributions:

• Clemson University – University of Belgrade (Faculty of Political Sciences): This undergraduate exchange program has consistently delivered high-impact outcomes. American participants describe the academic experience at FPN as rigorous, enlightening, and formative.

• Arizona State University – World Innovators Program: Through a five-week summer program in Belgrade, ASU students explore entrepreneurship and innovation while living in one of Southeast Europe’s most vibrant capitals.

These examples demonstrate the demand and potential for expanded cooperation. With greater institutional support and visibility, additional partnerships across disciplines, from engineering to Balkan studies, can and should be developed.

Tangible Returns: Why Exchanges Matter

Understanding and Soft Power

• In regions like the Balkans, where political narratives are often one-sided or misunderstood in the West, these exchanges provide crucial counterweights. Alumni often go on to careers in foreign service, journalism, education, and policy. Their firsthand understanding allows for more nuanced and informed engagement with Serbia and the broader region.

Economic Contribution

• Exchange students and researchers contribute to the Serbian economy—renting apartments, using local services, and attracting friends and family for visits. Though small in scale, these microeconomic effects build resilience in communities and support tourism in off-peak markets.

Personal and Civic Growth

• For Americans, living and working in Serbia breaks down assumptions and builds empathy. Whether through teaching English or simply coexisting with Serbian peers, participants often describe these experiences as transformative, shaping not only their worldviews but their careers.

• For Serbians, direct contact with American participants helps dispel stereotypes and foster a more nuanced understanding of American society. These exchanges humanize international relations, replacing abstract notions with real-life friendships and collaboration.

Policy Risk: Budget Cuts in Washington

Despite the success of these programs, the Trump Administration’s proposed FY 2026 budget would slash the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs by 93%. Fulbright and similar exchanges would be severely reduced or eliminated altogether. This follows an ongoing freeze on U.S. government-funded academic grant disbursements, affecting hundreds of Americans, many of whom were preparing to go to Serbia.

For a country like Serbia, which lacks significant influence in formal U.S. diplomacy, the stakes are especially high. Academic exchanges represent one of Serbia’s few consistent entry points into American thought leadership and policymaking. Undermining this channel would damage long-term relationship-building far more than immediate numbers suggest.

Strategic Case for Serbia as a Study Destination

Serbia ranks ahead of Italy and Belgium in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” index and continues to attract major tech players like Microsoft, Databricks, and NCR Voyix. With a growing pool of English-speaking STEM graduates and an increasingly globalized economy, Serbia is uniquely positioned to host American students and contribute to global talent pipelines.

By establishing deeper academic ties with the United States, Serbia not only prepares its students for integration into international markets, but also cultivates American professionals who are culturally and economically invested in Serbia’s success.

Strategic Recommendations

For Serbia

• Relax Visa Requirements: Albania allows U.S. citizens to stay visa-free for up to one year. Serbia should adopt a similar policy, recognizing that ease of entry is often the first, and sometimes only, consideration for American students choosing study destinations.

• Emulate the Egyptian Model: Egypt not only offers visas on arrival for over 100 nationalities (including the U.S.), but also builds its academic image through leading institutions like The American University in Cairo (AUC), which maintains partnerships with Harvard and U.S. military academies. Personal alumni investment, such as the case of donors Jonathan and Nancy Wolf, shows how early experiences can lead to lifelong advocacy and philanthropy.

• Mobilize Diaspora Support: Serbia benefits from a large and successful diaspora in the U.S., including on American university campuses. These alumni could establish scholarships or exchange grants, building upon alma mater connections and emotional ties to the homeland.

• Launch Social Media Ambassador Programs: Universities like Elon and the University of Miami now rely on student social media ambassadors to attract peers. Serbian universities should adopt this model, using current Serbian and American students as digital storytellers to market the experience authentically to their peers.

For the United States

• Protect Educational Diplomacy from Budget Cuts: Congress should enact bipartisan legislation to shield core programs, Fulbright, FLEX, YES, and CLS, from political volatility. Establishing a minimum funding floor for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs would prevent recurring crises.

• Frame Exchanges as National Security Assets: Educational exchanges should be treated not as cultural luxuries, but as essential tools for shaping informed allies, improving regional stability, and promoting U.S. competitiveness abroad.

• Expand Language and Regional Study Programs: Programs like the Balkan Language Initiative should be preserved and scaled. Microgrants and digital fellowships can further engage diaspora youth or heritage speakers, creating interest that outlasts traditional study abroad cycles.

• Encourage Institutional Exchange with Serbia: The U.S. State Department and Department of Education should prioritize Serbia as a high-value study destination, encouraging more universities to establish exchange agreements, particularly in STEM, foreign policy, and regional studies.

Conclusion: Investing in Serbia’s Future by Investing in People

Academic and cultural exchanges are among the most strategic, scalable, and cost-effective forms of international engagement. For Serbia, embracing this path means unlocking greater economic cooperation, deeper diplomatic ties, and visibility in a world where soft power increasingly drives hard outcomes. For the United States, these exchanges provide continuity and credibility in a region where traditional diplomacy is often absent.

The return on investment is clear: lifelong allies, informed partners, and institutional bridges that transcend politics. As global uncertainty rises, now is the time to secure the educational foundations of a stronger U.S.-Serbia relationship.