The Luce Scholars Program offers 15-18 young Americans annually a fellowship experience in Asia designed to broaden their professional perspectives and sharpen their perceptions of Asia, America, and themselves. The program is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and administered in Asia in cooperation with The Asia Foundation.

Launched in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program is aimed at a highly qualified group of young Americans in a variety of professional fields. It is unique among American-Asian exchanges because it is intended for young leaders with little or no prior experience of Asia who otherwise might not have an opportunity in the normal course of their careers to gain in-depth knowledge about Asia or their Asian counterparts and contemporaries. Personal qualities such as flexibility, adaptability, creativity, humility, openness to new ideas, and sensitivity to cultural differences are as important as academic achievement.

In spite of its name, the Luce Scholars Program is experiential rather than academic in nature. At the heart of the enterprise is the internship arranged for each Scholar on the basis of his or her specific interest, background, qualifications, and experience. These work assignments run for approximately ten months, from September until July of the following year, and are intended primarily as learning opportunities for Luce Scholars.