USA: The OSI Doctoral Fellows Program at Open Society Institute

The 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 the social sciences and humanities. Upon completion of the degree, fellows are required to return home to continue or begin academic careers, where they will play an active role in the revitalization and reform of scholarship both in their discipline and in higher education, generally.

We expect that this program will create a deep and lasting impact on the academic environments we serve.

Guidelines

Up to 15 awards will be offered annually for study in the United States or Canada. Grantees can receive full support for up to 4 years of full-time study. Fellowships are offered in political science, international relations, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, economics, and history.

The fellowship provides:

•Tuition and university fees for up to 4 years, requiring full-time enrollment;
•Monthly stipend for room, board, and living expenses;
•Air travel to and from host universities at the start and conclusion of program;
•One trip home during program for research purposes;
•Accident and sickness insurance during program;
•Annual allowances for academic materials & professional development;
•Facilitation of all visa and travel arrangements;
•Pre-academic training in academic writing & research methods;
•Participation in annual fellows’ conference.
The Fellowship does NOT provide:

•Funding or support for dependent family members (stipends are designed to support a single person only);
•Funding for non-fellowship travel expenses;
•Summer stipends for activities unrelated to doctoral completion;
•Guaranteed placement at finalist’s preferred department.

Doctoral Fellows Program 2010 Application PDF Document - 96K

Doctoral Fellows Program 2010 Application Guidelines

Eligibility

The program does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. The competition is merit-based and open to those meeting the following criteria:

•Resident of Moldova or Tajikistan;
•Excellent academic record and an advanced degree (minimum: BA) at time of application deadline; those with local post-graduate degrees are encouraged to apply;
•Proficiency in spoken and written English (or French, for placement at Canadian francophone universities) at the time of application;
•Professional scholarly aptitude and leadership potential in academia;
•Ability to receive and maintain the appropriate study permit and/or visa for the host country;
•Ability to attend the program’s pre-academic summer school beginning in July;
•Commitment to return to home country immediately after Program to pursue or continue a career in academia;
•Sincere motivation to aid ongoing reform efforts in higher education at home.

Selection is performed as follows:

Semi-Finalist Selection: A committee comprised of host university faculty and admissions officials reviews eligible applications and recommends which applicants to either reject or to move to the next stage of review (semi-finalist). To assist the selection committee in screening the initial applicant pool, all applicants will be required to take the "unofficial" TOEFL (TOEFL-ITP) shortly after the fellowship deadline, on a date to determined.

Those selected as semifinalists are required to take the TOEFL and GRE in November-December, 2009.

Interviews & Finalist Selection: Semi-finalists are interviewed in their home countries by a committee with qualifications as described above. This committee chooses finalists based on previous assessments of the written application, the candidates' performance during the interview, and standardized test results. Finalists continue on to the departmental placement stage. Interviews will be held in late November/early December 2009 and applicants should make themselves available for an interview around this time.

Finalist Placement: Finalist placement is a collaborative process involving NSP and host university faculty and staff. Finalists are normally not permitted to select their own placements. OSI formally notifies finalists of awards only after placements have been secured.

Deadline
Applications are due October 23, 2009.

Contact Information
Tajikistan

Gulnora Choukourbekova, Scholarships
Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation
Trade and Business Center "VEFA"
37/1 Bokhtar St, 4th Floor, Room 404
Dushanbe, Tajikistan 734002
Tel.: (992 47) 441-07-45,441-07-46
Fax: (+992 47) 441-07-29
Fax: (992 372) 510142
Email: gulnora@osi.tajik.net

Moldova

Angela Muset, Director
Educational Advising Center
Centrul de informatii universitare
bd. Stefan cel Mare si Sfant, 148
Chisinau, MD 2012,
Republic of Moldova
Tel.: (373 22) 22-11-67, 22-11-72
Fax: (373 22) 22-11-67
Email: amuset@eac.md
Website: www.eac.md

For more info, please click here

Please kindly mention Scholarization.blogspot.com when applying for this scholarship