Scholarship Programs mobilizes students and scholars by providing support for fellowships, scholarships, and related activities that empower individuals throughout the world to improve the social, political, and intellectual environments of their home communities. Support for advanced study in the humanities favors individuals positioned to improve classroom instruction in higher education institutions in their home country. Professional degree programs in the social sciences emphasize applied expertise, with a focus on policy analysis and systemic reform.
Post-fellowship engagement in social, political, and academic reform in the home country or region is a primary goal of Scholarship Programs. Pre-departure orientations, mid-year conferences, program listservs, and a biannual newsletter keep grantees and alumni informed of the initiatives and issues that OSI pursues. An Alumni Grants program offers incentives for grantees to create their own projects to serve local communities. These enhancements exploit the resources of the Soros network and drive Scholarship Programs to generate social change in addition to promoting academic achievement.
Scholarship Programs are supported by grants from the Department of State and the Agency for International Development in the United States, matching funds from the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the French government, as well as substantive contributions from universities around the world. Approximately 1,000 new grants are completed annually in 30 countries. In-country administration and regional expertise provided by the Soros-supported Educational Advising Centers and the Soros foundation staff are essential elements of the international network that implements Scholarship Programs.
After earning a PhD in economics at Staffordshire University, Avdullah Hoti was appointed as a senior advisor to Kosovo’s minister of education, science, and technology. Hoti persuaded the minister to direct 5 percent of the University of Pristina’s self-generated revenues to research. He also convinced the university to hire a vice dean for research in each of its academic faculties, as well as a vice rector for research. Hoti’s promotion of research in the university helped facilitate the adoption of European financing systems that give students at Kosovo universities opportunities to study abroad. Hoti also prepared a paper on Kosovo higher education that the government is using to advance its membership in the Bologna Process, an EU higher education initiative that aims to create common European higher education standards by 2010.
Read more highlights from the 2007 achievements of program scholars.
