Youth Exchange programs with the countries of the Soviet Union began in the 1980s. Exchanges between the U.S and the USSR, which focused on graduate students and scholars, began earlier, in the 1950s. The FLEX program is the first large-scale, long-term program to focus on secondary school students. This program was created by the United States Congress to extend a hand of friendship from the people of the United States of America to the people of the countries of the former Soviet Union. Up-to-date the FLEX academic year program has provided scholarship to nearly 19.000 secondary school students. Each scholarship recipient spends one year as a member of a U.S. host family and studies in an American high school.

The FLEX scholarship provides the following:

• Round-trip domestic and international travel (from home to the United States and back)
• Monthly allowance to help students participate in social activities and buy necessary
personal supplies
• Placement with the selected U.S. host family for one year
• Enrollment in a U.S. secondary school
• Program orientation activities including pre-program preparation and re-entry preparation
• Program activities arranged in local U.S. communities
• Medical insurance, excluding pre-existing conditions and dental care

This scholarship is fully funded by the United States government and administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the U.S. Department of State. The FLEX program is supported at the local level by U.S. citizens and local secondary schools that voluntarily host, educate, and support students with no financial compensation.

The recruitment, selection, orientation, and travel arrangements for the program are organized by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS (www.actr.org)

The competition for the FLEX scholarship is merit-based and open at no cost to all applicants who meet the following requirements.

• Meet the age/grade requirement set for their country: 9th, 10th and 11th grades
• Be currently enrolled in a secondary school
• Have an academic standing of "good" or better
• Have previously studied English and demonstrate English language ability at the time of registration
• Meet U.S. visa eligibility requirements
• Be a citizen of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan or Ukraine and able to receive an international passport in the country where they apply to the program.