CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: TWO-YEAR FUNDED MASTERS’ OPPORTUNITY FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2021/2022 (COHORT 3).
IUCEA hereby invites suitably qualified nationals of the East African Community (EAC) to apply for cohort 3 of the KfW- funded Scholarships, to pursue Master’s studies in the EAC Partner State other than their own.
Opening date: August 27th 2021
Closing date: September 17th, 2021 not later than 17:00 hours, East African Time Thematic areas:
- Mathematics 3) Informatics 5) Technology
- Engineering 4) Science 6) Business Science
Eligible applicants: Young nationals (aged below 35 years) of the EAC Partner states (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda).
Duration of the Scholarship: 2 years
1. BACKGROUND
The EAC Scholarship Programme is an initiative of the East African Community (EAC) and the Federal Republic of Germany. The project begun in 2018 when the EAC Secretariat and Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with KfW (German Development Bank) geared towards the training of students within the EAC Region. This Project aims at creating future change agents, who identify themselves with the integration agenda of the EAC and are willing to share economic and development-oriented expert knowledge.
The goal of this initiative is to contribute towards training leaders that will foster the EAC Regional integration. This goal will be partly achieved through the establishment of academic collaboration between universities/institutions within the EAC Region, by encouraging students to study in countries other than their own. In order to achieve these impacts, the project offers a comprehensive package including scholarships for Master’s programmes, internships, mentoring, networking events and further leadership training activities. The scholarship will support Master’s students in i) Mathematics, ii) Engineering, iii) Informatics, iv) Science, v) Technology and vi) Business Science programmes.
The students are required to apply to study in another EAC country (not their country of origin).
Women and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. This Programme will include a minimum of 30% female students and a special consideration will be given to Burundian and South Sudanese female applicants.
2. SCHOLARSHIP PACKAGE
Up to 63 scholarships are available in the 2021/2022 academic year.
The scholarship covers the following:
- Return economy air ticket between the candidate’s home and host countries
- University tuition fees: payable directly to the university against official invoice;
- Stipend: EUR380 per month to support living expenses including housing, food, utilities, local transportation and settlement expenses;
- Allowances for study materials and research: EUR 1,500 one- off allowance;
- Medical insurance; and
- Extracurricular events: at least one event per year.
- ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA The minimum requirements for qualification into the Programme are:
- Be a national of a partner state of the East African Community;
- Be below 35 years of age at the time of application
- Possess at least an equivalent of Upper Second-Class Honours or “Distinction” as applicable;
- Have obtained admission from a university in another country of the EAC Region other than their own.
- Submit a motivation letter in English (with not more than 500 words) as follows:
- Well written (grammatically and professionally)
- Demonstrates a convincing motivation for wanting to pursue the Master’s Programme chosen
- Adequately demonstrates the applicant’s foreseen professional engagement in EAC Integration agenda after completing the Master’s Programme
- Demonstrates how they expect to apply the acquired skills and knowledge from the Master’s Programme to contribute to the EAC Integration Agenda
- Demonstrates where they anticipate seeing themselves professionally and academically in 5 and 10 years.
