INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS

Former Senate Foreign Relations Chairman J. William Fulbright, whose name is part of a 40-year-old international education exchange, says President Reagan could have benefitted from the program.

"If he'd had a Fulbright, he never would have gotten in this mess." said Fulbright, referring to the crisis currently surrounding White House foreign policy-makers.

Fulbright, 81, a Democratic senator from Arkansas from 1945 until his defeat in 1974, commented Tuesday at the National Press Club after speeking about the 40th anniversary of the start of the Fulbright Exchange Program.

The exchange of students and teachers between the United States and other nations, which he said promotes understanding in foreign policy, was begun by legislation he introduced as a freshman in 1945. Prolonging College as Long as Possible

SHEEPSKINS

Less than half the students in a federal study got their college degree in the traditional four years after high school graduation, the Department of Education says.

Nearly 25 percent took six, seven or more years to get a sheepskin, according to a report this week from the department's Center for Statistics.

The study was based on an analysis of college transcripts of 4400 students who were part of a larger group interviewed in the high school class of 1972.

The researchers found that 49 percent earned their bachelor's degrees by 1976 in the traditional four years. Twenty-seven percent took only one year longer.

But nine percent of the students took six years, 5 percent needed seven years, and 10 percent spent up to 11 years before completing their pursuit of a college diploma.

Women were more likely than men to finish college in the traditional four years, 56 percent to 43 percent.

Among those who took longer than four years, 70 percent entered college in the fall after high school graduation. Most of the rest started college within three years. NCAA Penalizes Athletes

DRUG TESTING

The National Collegiate Athletic Association took its first action against college athletes who failed drug tests conducted during preliminary rounds of championship tournaments in Division I and III schools, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported this week.

The five football players--from North Dakota State University, Concordia College and Salisbury State College--are believed to be the first college students nationwide to be suspended under the NCAA's new drug testing rules implemented this fall, the Chronicle article said. All five athletes were suspended for 90 days and prohibited from playing in semifinal or final tournament competition.

Under the new NCAA rules, 36 players from each playoff team are subject to the random, unannounced tests.

Four of the football players were penalized for using anabolic steroids, used by athletes to build strength and muscle mass. The fifth athlete took unusally large doses of Sudafed, a common decongestant. Racial Incident Prompts FBI Probe

THE CITADEL

The FBI is investigating possible civil rights violations in a recent racial hazing at The Citadel, a prominent military academy in Charleston, S.C.

The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department asked the bureau to conduct a preliminary investigation into an October 23 incident in which five white cadets dressed in white sheets entered the room of a Black freshman. They chanted obscenities and left a burned paper cross there.

The Black cadet, Kevin Nesmith, later dropped out of the school, citing continued harassment and distress resulting from the incident. Nesmith filed a complaint with the Justice Department alleging racial harassment at the state military college.

The NAACP has threatened a broader legal challenge, a suit against The Citadel for more than 14 civil rights grievances--including allegations that the school violated Nesmith's civil rights, restricts freedom of speech and assembly on campus. More CIA Protests, More Protests

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Rutgers University police arrested 19 protesters, including left-wing political activist Abbie Hoffman, earlier this month after they picketed CIA recruiters at the New Jersey campus.

The protest began, the Daily Targum reported, during an hour-long rally blasting CIA recruitment in which Hoffman addressed a crowd of 300. "It's like inviting the mafia to come and speak to you," said Hoffman, who was arrested at a similar protest last month at UMass Amherst.

When the crowd moved on a Rutgers administrative building, campus police began "literally throwing people to the ground, pushing faces into the ground, twisting their arms behind their backs, kicking them in their legs, stepping on them and grabbing them by their hair and ears," protester Janet Jones told the Targum.

"It wasn't pretty," she said. Rutgers police refused to comment on the arrests.

At the same time, 30 other counter-protesters defended the CIA's freedom of speech and right to recruit on campus.