Belgian Bilateral Scholarship Programme

Within the framework of its Indicative Cooperation Programme for the period of 2011-2015 with Vietnam, the government of Belgium wishes to support the government of Vietnam in its efforts to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development through human resource development.

Belgian Bilateral Scholarships enable young professionals from Vietnam to pursue Master studies in Belgium and gain new expertise for the benefit of their country.

Quantity and type of scholarships within the framework of the Programme

There are estimatedly 30 full Master scholarships granted for Intake of 2015.

The scholarship will cover a return ticket to Belgium, all tuition fees, basic health insurance and a monthly stipend and allowances.

Who can apply

• Candidates from all provinces and regions of Vietnam, from public institutions, civil society, NGOs and the private sector are encouraged to apply.
• Candidates should have good academic records and relevant working experience with the desired studies.
• Candidates should show potential to contribute to the development of Vietnam.
• Women and candidates coming from remote areas are strongly encouraged to apply.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicant must:

• Be citizen of Vietnam, residing and working in Vietnam at the moment of application;
• Not have citizenship or permanent resident status of Belgium or any other developed countries on OECD list;
• Not be married or engaged to a person holding or eligible to hold Belgian citizenship;
• Not be older than 35 years at the moment of application;
• Hold a full-time official university degree;
• Have minimum 02 full years of working experience (after undergraduate study up to the moment of application). The experience must be relevant to the selected Master study;
• Be fluent in English or in French. Requirements by BBS:
  • French: at least DELF B2 / TCF 400-500;
  • English: at least IELTS 6.5 / TOEFL computer 213 / TOEFL iBT 79-80.

N.B:

• Candidates are strongly advised to contact the chosen university for confirmation on the availability of the course in the academic year 2015-2016 and the language of instruction before application.
• Candidates must possess a high level of English or French proficiency in order to enable them to cope with post-graduate study in Belgium. Candidates are therefore strongly advised to contact directly Belgian universities for specific language requirements of different study programmes. In case the chosen universities or study programmes require higher score than the requirement of BBS, applicants must comply with it before submitting their applications.
• Applicants are not obliged to have beforehand letters of admission from Belgian universities for the academic year 2015-2016. However, having a letter of admission will help the selection committee to proceed file screening and selection procedures more conveniently.
• GRE/GMAT is required by some universities for courses in Economics, Management or Finance or Natural Sciences. Candidates must carefully check with the selected universities and comply with this requirement before submission of application.

What eligible universities and courses can candidates apply for?

Master studies are taught either in French or in English at Belgian universities.

Master studies in Belgium normally take 1 or 2 years, depending on the course and/or university. It is up to applicants to check on the website of the universities and to make their choice among available offers. Applicants can apply for one course at one university.

N.B:  Courses in international colleges located in Belgium are not eligible for Belgian Bilateral Scholarships.

Within the framework of the Belgian Bilateral Scholarship Programme, the fields of study are not restricted but priority will be given to the areas of intervention of the Belgian development cooperation in Vietnam, notably: water resource management, environment, climate change, urbanization, engineering, and governance.

The following websites will enable candidates to find more detailed information on the Belgian universities:

• www.studyinflanders.be
• www.studyinbelgium.be
• www.topstudybelgium.be

Application procedure

APPLICATIONS FOR  INTAKE 2015
CAN BE SUBMITTED FROM 1st OCTOBER TO 30th DECEMBER 2014

1. Application Form

Master Form 2015 (DOC, 436.5 Kb)

The application form should be clearly and completely filled in the language of instruction of the chosen course, preferably typewritten and duly signed by candidates. Incomplete files or files missing any of the documents listed under Section 11 shall be rejected.

Section 1 – Personal Information: this section inquires about personal details. Please note that the scholarship funds the costs for the awardees only. If candidates wish to take any member of their family to Belgium, they will have to bear the costs themselves.

Section 2 – Postal address: as the information in this section will help us to contact applicants, sufficient and clear information is very important to ensure that all applicants are well informed of their application results.

Section 3 – Proficiency in foreign language: the language proficiency test results must be valid until at least 30/06/2015. For those who are waiting for the result, please indicate the date of the test as well as the expected date for the result. Supplementary documents can be submitted before 16/01/2015.

Section 7 – Request for scholarship: Applicants should fill in the precise title of the course, duration and the university. Each applicant can apply for one course at one university. For further information, applicants can visit the website of the university or contact directly the course coordinator via email for confirmation of the course availability as well as the language of instruction.

Section 8 – Statement of Motivation and Future Plan: this section aims to understand the rationale for the selection of the study as well as the future plans of candidates upon their return to Vietnam. This is particularly important; therefore, applicants should write this part convincingly and coherently. The text should not exceed 400 words (or 4,000 characters).

If some useful information concerning the application cannot be covered in the text under Section 8, applicants could continue in the Section 9.

2. Documents that should accompany the application form

(All documents in Vietnamese must be a legalised true copy, with certified translation in English or French)

• Copy of birth certificate.
• Copy of University degree, and Master degree (if any).
• Copy of academic (University, Master) transcripts.
• Copy of the internationally recognized language certificates.
• A short explanation about the grading system of Vietnam (This document will assist the Belgian universities to better understand the meaning of the grading system in Vietnam, and therefore enable them to assess the qualifications of applicants through  academic transcripts).
• Two letters of recommendation, either professional or academic with contact details of the referees.
• Authorization letter of the current employer (see Template in Annex 1 of the Application Form).
• Resume/Curriculum Vitae.

3. Submission and Deadline

• 01 original and 03 copies of the Application File (including form & annexes) are to be sent in a sealed envelope marked “Application for 2015/16 Belgian Bilateral Scholarships”.
• Deadline: before 17h00, Tuesday 30/12/2014.
• Address: Development Cooperation Office – Embassy of Belgium, 9th Floor Hanoi Towers – 49 Hai Ba Trung street, Hanoi.

Applications sent by mail will be checked based on the date of the post stamp.

 Applications sent by fax/email are not accepted.

Selection procedure and process

The Selection Committee will screen application files and draw up a shortlist of candidates. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview in Hanoi and in Ho Chi Minh City.

Only the application files of the candidates who passed the interview will be sent to the Belgian universities for an assessment and issuing of admission letters. Scholarships will be awarded only when a letter of admission issued by the chosen university is available.

N.B:
Besides the criteria to assess the applicants’ qualification and motivation, the Selection Committee will also take into consideration the geographical, sectoral and institutional balance of all selected courses before making a final decision on awarding the scholarships.

Timeline

30/12/2014: Deadline for submission of applications.

Please be noted that the following timeline is indicative and for reference only:

End of January 2015: Completion of pre-selection.
March 2015: Organized Interviews.
End April 2015: Inform result of interviews and of application to all applicants.
July – Aug 2015: Award scholarships.

Further Information

For all questions related to Belgian Bilateral Scholarships, please contact:

Mrs. Ngo Thu Huong
Attaché-adjoint (Development Cooperation)
[email protected]

or

Mrs. Ho Phuong Loan
Assistant
[email protected]

Useful Links

• Belgian Embassy in Vietnam
  http://countries.diplomatie.belgium.be/en/vietnam/development_cooperation/
• Study in Flanders Secretariat
  www.studyinflanders.be
• University Cooperation for Development, Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR-UOS)
  www.vliruos.be
• Commission Universitaire pour le Développement – Conseil interuniversitaire de la Communauté française de Belgique (CIUF-CUD)
  www.cud.be
• Website of the national fund for scientific research
  www.fnrs.be
• Website with an overview of higher education in Flanders, Belgium
  www.highereducation.be
• Website with information of higher education of the French Community of Belgium
  www.enseignement.be/infosup