OSI/FCO Chevening/University of Warwick Scholarships

The scholarships, which are offered for a period of twelve months, are designed to enable scholars to pursue a taught postgraduate course at the University of Warwick.

Each scholarship provides twelve months’ tuition fees at the University of Warwick, a stipend to cover living costs (for one person only), and return air travel from the scholar’s home country. On completion of the scholarship, scholars will return to their home countries.

Deadline

January 29, 2010

Eligible Countries

Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Mongolia.

Eligible Subjects

Scholarships are available from September 2010 for all Master’s courses in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The funding does not cover master’s courses offered by the Warwick Business School, including the MBA, the two-year MA in Social Work, or part-time courses.

Criteria

Applicants must:

be nationals of, and resident in one of the selected countries during the academic year in which they apply for the award; applicants who are temporarily out of the country (for a total period of less than three consecutive months) may be treated as being resident;
display intellectual ability and leadership potential;
already hold (or expect to hold by the time of taking up the award) a degree of an equivalent standard to a good UK second-class Honours degree;
have passed an appropriate English language test by the time of taking up the award. The University would expect candidates to have normally achieved at the time of taking up the award a score of TOEFL 600 (Paper based), TOEFL 250 (Computer based), TOEFL (Internet based 92) or IELTS 6.5;
not have already received or be currently receiving financial benefit from a previous HMG fully funded Scholarship;
return to their home country at the end of their scholarship period to continue their studies / work there.

Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously studied outside of their home country.

Employees, employees’ relatives (or former employees who have left employment less than two years before) of FCO (including FCO posts), the British Council, the Educational Advising Centers or local OSI representations in the region and the participating universities will not be eligible to apply for these awards.

Application Process & Deadline

Only the application forms provided by Soros foundations or Soros Educational Advising Centers should be used. These forms are deliberately different from the university's standard forms so that the University of Warwick can easily recognize them as part of a competition application. If applicants use standard forms provided by the University, there is a risk they could be treated as a normal application.

The completed forms and other documents must be returned to the local Soros Foundation or Educational Advising Center at the addresses below by January 29, 2010. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

Applicants are required to submit three copies of the application package: one original and two photocopies of the entire application set.

A completed application must include:

Three copies of the completed application form.
Two referees' reports in signed and sealed envelopes.
Transcripts of undergraduate and any postgraduate study. If the Transcript is not in English you must provide a translation bearing an official stamp. Applicants may not translate transcripts themselves.
Applicants for courses in the English Department should include two pieces of written work on a literary topic previously submitted as part of your Undergraduate degree.

Only complete applications will be considered.

Candidates may apply for only one course of study at the University of Warwick.

Selection Procedure

The local Soros Educational Advising Center or Soros foundation will forward the applications to the University of Warwick. Academic staff at the university will compile a short-list.
Short-listed applicants will be invited for an interview and an English language test in their home country in April 2010. Candidates should be available for the interview at any point during this period of time. The local EAC or foundation will inform candidates in early April whether they have been short-listed or not.
Interviews will be carried out by representatives of OSI, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the University of Warwick.
The final awards will be decided jointly by the University, the FCO, and OSI. Candidates will be informed in mid-June 2010. Certain candidates may be offered reserve places for scholarships which means that a scholarship may be awarded if a successful candidate withdraws from the program. The scholarship period begins in late September 2010.

Please note that all successful applicants will be invited to attend a one-month preparatory academic writing summer school in July or August 2010. The Network Scholarship Programs’ (NSP) Pre-Academic Summer Program is designed to prepare NSP grantees for a successful academic experience in the UK. Successful applicants will be provided with the opportunity to refine their research and writing skills through intensive courses in academic writing and social sciences. The exact date and location of the summer school will be available at a later stage in the selection process.

Additional Information

Applicants can read the university's Graduate Admissions Prospectus, a copy of which they can find at the local Educational Advising Center or Soros foundation. Applicants will not, however, be able to take this copy home.

Visit the university's postgraduate homepage, www.warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate, for further information.

Contact Information

Applicants are urged to make use of all written documentation available, including the university's Graduate Prospectus and the guidance notes included with the university's application form. Any queries about these guidance notes should be directed to either:

The relevant local Educational Advising Center or Soros foundation; or

Margareta Mamaliga
UK Program Coordinator
Network Scholarship Programs
Open Society Foundation
Fax: +44 20 7031 0201
Email: Margareta.Mamaliga@osf-eu.org.

Academic questions should be directed to the appropriate department at the University of Warwick (listed in the Graduate Prospectus).

Belarus

Contact person: Kevin Reiling
E-mail: advising@ehu.lt
Skype: kevinreiling

Applications must be submitted to the British Embassy Minsk:

British Embassy
37 Karl Marx Street
22030 Belarus
Tel: +375 172105920
Contact person: Ina Ramasheuskaya
(Office Hours: 09.00-17.30 Mon-Thurs, 09.00-15.00 Friday)

Georgia

Centre for International Education
Open Society Georgia Foundation
10, Chovelidze Street
0108 Tbilisi
Georgia
Tel: (+995 32)252615, 250463
Fax: (+995 32) 252615
Contact person: Natia Nanava, natia@osgf.ge

Kazakhstan

Educational Development Center
"BILIM-Central Asia"
31, Tulebayeva St, First floor, Almaty City
050004 Kazakhstan
Tel: +7 727 2597620 (22)
Fax: +7 727 2597622
Contact person: Larissa Gorbunova, lgorbunova@bilim.kz

Moldova

Educational Advising Center
148 Stefan cel Mare bd, of.22
Chisinau, Moldova, MD 2012
Tel: (+373 22) 221172, 221167
Fax: (+373 22) 221167
Contact person: Angela Muset, amuset@eac.md

Mongolia

Educational Advising and Resource Center
Sukhbaatar District, Khoroo 8, Khoroolol 11,
Students Street, MKM Building 24, 1st Floor
Ulaanbaatar 210648, Mongolia
Tel: (976 11) 31 90 16
Fax: (976 11) 32 69 41
Contact person: Ariunaa Enkhtur: ariunaa@earcmn.org