Focus AreasThe OSI Doctoral Fellows Program is designed to provide the highest research and teaching qualifications to individuals from Tajikistan and Moldova who are positioned to become leading scholars in their disciplines. Upon completion of the degree, fellows are required to return home to continue or begin academic careers. It is hoped that the fellowship experience will inspire participants to play an active role in the revitalization and reform of higher education generally and scholarship (research and teaching) in their discipline.
Local Need for Doctorates
OSI Scholarship Programs have traditionally supported master’s level study in the social sciences and humanities for citizens of the former Soviet-bloc countries. For years, much of the higher education reform and leading scholarship in this region has been accomplished by these returning scholars with master’s-level credentials. Today, the advancement of local knowledge production requires increasingly more sophisticated scholarship mechanisms, such as doctoral degree awards and faculty development fellowships. With limited local resources available to meet the demands for quality higher education in emerging global knowledge centers, international scholarships continue to be an essential tool in our work.
Fellowship Experience
Fellows will be placed in university departments that closely match their research interest. They will work with a respected and supportive mentor, engage in intellectual discovery with their peers, witness firsthand the importance of diversity within academic discourse, and master if not challenge the prevailing wisdom of their discipline. The experience will provide the most advanced training in the techniques of scholastic inquiry and teaching methodologies.
Beyond the Degree
Equally important as the advanced academic training, the doctoral experience exposes students to the elements of “academic culture” that create a healthy scholarly community. Doctoral students see how a department operates on an administrative level, how colleagues form a cohesive but diverse community, how the department fits into the larger university community, and how key administrative policies encourage equity and access to knowledge. They also learn that a scholar’s work extends beyond the department to include service to the university and active membership in academic networks.
With this in mind, we hope that this program will create a deep and lasting impact on the academic environments we serve.
For more information and an application form, please see the program guidelines.
