Deadline: September 30, 2023
Applications are open for the KAS Sur-place Scholarship Program in Ethiopia 2024. The KAS sur-place scholarship is a local scholarship offered by the KAS Office Ethiopia/African Union in the form of financial support to Ethiopians who are enrolled in and are pursuing post-graduate studies in universities in Ethiopia and who show excellence in their academic performance and in society.
The phrase “sur-place” is French and means “in place” or “on the spot” and the scholarship is named as such to signify that it is a scholarship offered to students in the place or spot where they are studying, in this case Ethiopia.
Categories
There are two categories of scholarships. The “monthly academic scholarship” and the “training grant”.
- The “monthly academic scholarship” supports students in Ethiopia who have finished their Bachelor’s degree and who are currently enrolled in a Master’s program or are about to enroll into a Master’s program. This scholarship consists of a monthly stipend of 70 Euro. It is not a full scholarship, but an encouragement for and a recognition of excellent performance in academic studies and society.
- The “training grant” is a one-time financial support and is intended for young Ethiopian professionals who have finished their postgraduate studies (either a Master’s or a PhD) and who want to cover the cost/tuition to take a short training course in Ethiopia to specialize and develop their professional skills, for example by taking an IT course or a project management course or a course on another more focused topic in their respective discipline. Applicants for the grant are required to apply after having identified a course they want to attend. In their application, they must provide a 2-3 page long detailed proposal that introduces the topic, length, and cost of the course they identified, the institution offering it, as well as how they intend to make use of the course for their professional development. Applications with insufficient information on these elements will not be considered. The training grant is not meant to cover tuition for full-fledged master’s programs. The amount of the grant will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Benefits
- The KAS sur-place scholarship program offers more than financial support. The KAS Office Ethiopia/AU endeavors to support scholarship holders in their academic pursuits and in advancing their careers. They will be given access to KAS workshops, conferences, discussion fora, and many other resources KAS offers.
- You will learn, i.e., about German and European history, discuss international relations, questions of development, and peace and security in Africa and Ethiopia.
Eligibility
- The KAS Office Ethiopia/AU can only support scholarship recipients pursuing studies or training in Ethiopia (“sur-place”). The scholarship program does not support students pursuing master’s studies or further training abroad.
- The KAS sur-place scholarships in Ethiopia support young people who demonstrate excellence in their academic studies and in society.
- To be a successful recipient of the “monthly academic scholarship”, applicants must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher in their Bachelor’s degree (in every year of the Bachelor!).
- Students applying for the “training grant” should have a GPA of 3.5 or higher in their Master’s/ or (if applicable) summa cum laude in their PhD.
- They seek students who not only excel in their studies, but who are highly involved in civic engagement as they fundamentally believe that countries can only grow if everyone contributes to the community.
Selection Process
The selection procedure has two stages.
- The first stage is the pre-selection and shortlisting of the best candidates on the basis of their application documents (grades, levels of civic engagement, etc.). On the basis of that, KAS will invite the best candidates to the second stage, the selection weekend.
- The second stage is the selection of scholarship holders during a weekend which takes place towards the end of the year in Addis Ababa. The weekend consists of a written test which assesses the candidates’ general knowledge of history, politics, national and international news, and of global issues. After the written test, each candidate must present themselves for a 45-minute long interview before an interview panel. While there is no predetermined number of scholarship holders that will be selected every year, the badge of 2022 and 2023 comprised a total of 20 and 15 recipients respectively.
Application
The following documents are needed for applications:
For the “monthly academic scholarship”
- Letter of motivation
- Updated curriculum vitae
- 2 letters of recommendation (by academic advisor and/or employer)
- A copy of Bachelor’s Degree Certificate
- Copies of all transcripts of records during your Bachelor’s studies (of each year)
- And (if applicable, if you have already started a master’s program) all the transcripts in your Master’s studies so far;
Note:
- All transcripts must show your GPA.
- If you have not received your Bachelor’s Degree Certificate yet, you can still apply. However, by the time of admission to the scholarship program, you must present your diploma copy of your Bachler’s Degree Certificate which needs to meet the grade requirements above.
For the “training grant”
- Letter of motivation
- In addition to the letter of motivation, a 2-3 pages long detailed proposal that introduces the topic, duration, and cost of training course the applicants intends to take; the institution offering it; as well as how the candidate intends to make use of the course for his professional development. Applications with insufficient information on these elements will not be considered.
- Updated curriculum vitae
- 2 letters of recommendation (by academic advisor and/or employer)
- Copy of Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Certificates, and (if applicable) your PhD Certificate;
- Copies of all transcripts of records during your Bachelor’s and MA studies (of each year)
- All documents must show your GPA. If the degree certificates do not indicate GPA, then copies of transcripts indicating GPAs for each year must be submitted.
They only accept applications sent by e-mail. Your application must be sent in one single e-mail and with one single merged/combined pdf document attachment that does not exceed 5MB. They do not accept applications sent in several e-mails or e-mails with multiple attachments, or applications sent by physical mail. Send your application in English by e-mail no later than September 30, 2023 to the following address: [email protected].
For more information, visit KAS Sur-place Scholarship.
