ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

In 2005, the National Scholarship Programme for the Supports of Mobility of University Students, PhD Students, University Teachers, Researchers and Artists was established by the approval of the Government of the Slovak Republic. The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic is funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.

The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic supports study/research/teaching/artistic mobility of foreign students, PhD students, university teachers, researchers and artists at higher education institutions and research organisations in Slovakia. The scholarship shall cover scholarship holders’ living costs (accommodation, board, etc.) during their study/research/teaching/artistic stay in Slovakia.

The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic (NSP) supports also mobility of students and PhD students studying at Slovak higher education institutions (or in case of PhD students, students studying at external education institutions, e.g. the Slovak Academy of Sciences) with a permanent residence in Slovakia at higher education institutions and research organisations abroad. In the framework of the NSP, students, full-time PhD students, university teachers and researchers of the Slovak Academy of Sciences with a permanent residence in Slovakia are eligible to apply for a travel grant (a grant that should cover a part of their travel costs related to their study/research stay abroad).

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, PHD STUDENTS, UNIVERSITY TEACHERS, RESEARCHERS AND ARTISTS FROM ABROAD

In 2005, the National Scholarship Programme for the Supports of Mobility of University Students, PhD Students, University Teachers, Researchers and Artists was established by the approval of the Government of the Slovak Republic. The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic (NSP) is funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.

The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic supports study/research/teaching/artistic mobility of foreign students, PhD students, university teachers, researchers and artists at higher education institutions andresearch organisations in Slovakia.

1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

The following individuals are eligible applicants for a scholarship in the framework of the NSP:

A) students, who are university students abroad and will be participating on a study stay in Slovakia within their 2^nd level of higher education (or will be participating on a study stay in Slovakia at least during the 7^th semester of their higher education, i.e. in case that they are students of a joined study programme – joined 1^st and 2^nd level of higher education), and who are accepted by a public, private or state university in the Slovak Republic to an academic mobility¹ to study in the Slovak Republic;

• duration of the scholarship stay: 1 – 2 semesters (i.e. 4 – 5 or 9 – 10 months) or 1 – 3 trimesters, if the academic year is divided on trimesters (i.e. 3 – 4 or 6 – 7 or 9 – 10 months)

B) PhD students, whose higher education or research preparation takes place abroad, and who are accepted by a public, private or state university or research organisation eligible to carry out a PhD study programme² (e.g. Slovak Academy of Sciences) in the Slovak Republic to an academic mobility¹ to study/conduct research in the Slovak Republic;

• duration of the scholarship stay: 1 – 12 months

C) foreign university teachers, researchers or artists, who are invited by an organisation with a valid certificate of competence to carry out research and development seated in the Slovak Republic, and which is not a business organisation³ to a teaching/research/artistic stay in the Slovak Republic.

• duration of the scholarship stay: 1 – 12 months

_{[1] Section 58a Act No. 131/2002 Coll. on higher education institutions, as amended by later legislation.}

_{[2] External education institution according to the Act No. 131/2002 Coll. on higher education institutions, as amended by later legislation.}

_{[3] Legal entity according to the Section 7 letters a) – c) Act No. 172/2005 Coll. on organisation of state support to research and development, as amended by later legislation, which has a valid certificate of competence to carry out research and development according to the Section 26 Paragraph 11 or 12 of this Act. Mostly they are public, private or state universities, research organisations eligible to carry out a PhD study programme (so called external education institutions), Slovak Academy of Sciences and its institutes, or departmental research institutes or non-governmental organisations eligible to carry out research and development.}

Citizens of the following countries are eligible to apply for a scholarship in the framework of the NSP:

a) Member States of the European Union;

b) other signatories to the Bologna Process (listed are only countries outside the EU) – Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Island, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Monte Negro, Norway, Russian Federation, Serbia (including Kosovo), Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City;

c) Belarus, Uzbekistan;

d) Canada, Mexico, USA, countries of Latin and Central America;

d) Australia, China (including Taiwan), Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Republic of South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam.

The National Scholarship Programme does not support:

• foreign university students and PhD students who will begin to study a full study programme of 2^nd level of higher education or a full PhD study programme in Slovakia, or those who are already enrolled in a full study programme in Slovakia and would like to fund their studies in Slovakia using a scholarship within the NSP;
• foreign university teachers, researchers and artists employed by higher education institutions or research organisations in the Slovak Republic as full-time employees (they have an employment contract according to the Labour Code);
• nationals of the Slovak Republic who study or work at higher education institutions or research organisations abroad;
• foreigners accepted for a scholarship stay in Slovakia in the framework of some other scholarship programme (e.g. International Visegrad Fund, Erasmus+, CEEPUS, bilateral agreements, etc.).

If a scholarship applicant has already been awarded a scholarship in the framework of the NSP, the following applies: If the scholarship applicant has already been awarded a scholarship in the framework of the NSP within the last 3 years for 10 or more months (individually and/or in total), he/she cannot be awarded a scholarship sooner than after 3 years since the completion of his/her last scholarship stay in the framework of the NSP in Slovakia.

2. SCHOLARSHIP AND SCHOLARSHIP STAY

The scholarship shall cover scholarship holders’ living costs (accommodation, board, etc.) during their study/research/teaching/artistic stay at higher education institutions, research or non-governmental organisations in Slovakia. Regarding the accommodation and administrative duties related to the entry to the territory of the Slovak Republic, scholarship holders can contact their host institution or they can arrange these issues themselves. In case of applicants from abroad, the NSP does not cover travel costs related to arrival and departure from Slovakia.

3. MONTHLY SCHOLARSHIP

Changes of the monthly scholarship amount are in force since the call for applications with the application deadline 30.04.2013!

a) university student (2nd level of higher education)	350 €
b) PhD student	580 €
c) university teacher/researcher/artist without PhD degree (or its equivalent) and less than 4 years of experience as a university teacher/researcher/artist	580 €
d)  university teacher/researcher/artist:
with PhD degree (or its equivalent) and less than 10 years of experience as a university teacher/researcher/artist	850 €
with PhD degree (or its equivalent) and more than 10 years of experience as a university teacher/researcher/artist	1 000 €

Note:

• To determine the monthly scholarship amount, only work experience until the deadline of the call for applications is taken into consideration.
• PhD studies are considered as work experience.

Scholarship holders, whose scholarship stay lasts longer than 3 months and who are nationals of countries outside the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland are obliged to submit to the Foreign police office aconfirmation on not suffering any illness constituting a threat to the public health within 30 days after being awarded the temporary residence in Slovakia. They will be reimbursed the costs related to the medical examination (up to 250 € per person) after submitting the original hard copy of the confirmation on payment issued by the respective medical centre to SAIA. A list of medical centres eligible to carry out medical examinations related to the temporary residence in Slovakia can be found at the respective Foreign police office. Scholarship holders must submit the original hard copy of the confirmation on payment issued by the respective medical centre to SAIA in Bratislava within 60 days since the beginning of their scholarship stay; otherwise they will lose their right for the reimbursement of costs related to the medical examination.

4. CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

• 30 April by 16:00 CET – scholarship stays during the following academic year
• 31 October by 16:00 CET – scholarship stays during the summer semester of the running academic year

If the application deadline is on Saturday or Sunday, the on-line application must be submitted before the application deadline and original hard copies of the required documents must be submitted to SAIA in Bratislava the first working day after the application deadline by 12:00 CET, or the required documents must be sent the same day (as the application deadline) by post/courier and they must reach SAIA in Bratislava within 5 working days since the application deadline. Regarding the working days, the legal status in the Slovak Republic is taken into consideration.

Note: When setting the date of the beginning of the scholarship stay, we advise to foreign applicants who need visa to enter the territory of the Slovak Republic to take into consideration time period necessary for issuing the visa (information on visa application procedure is provided by embassies and consulates general of the Slovak Republic abroad).

5. APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Scholarship applications are submitted on-line at www.scholarships.sk. On-line application system is opened at least 6 weeks before the application deadline. The application can be filled in only after the opening of the on-line application system.

Note: Please, try not to submit your application at the last moment. You must take into consideration that too many operations during the last minutes before the application deadline could have an influence on the reaction time of the on-line application system and you could miss the application deadline.

Scholarship applicants must fill in their on-line application (in Slovak, English, French, Spanish or Russian language), they must attach all the required documents in required formats into the on-line application system and they must submit their on-line application pushing the “Submit” button. Original hard copies of the documents marked by the asterisk (*) must be submitted to SAIA in Bratislava. In case of submitting the documents in person, the documents will be accepted by SAIA in Bratislava until the application deadline. Original hard copies of the documents marked by the asterisk (*) can be also send to SAIA in Bratislava by post/courier. In that case, the documents cannot be sent later than on the date of the application deadline (date stated at the postmark or at the posting document of courier service is taken into consideration) – the documents must reach SAIA in Bratislavawithin 5 working days since the application deadline; otherwise they will be not accepted.

Original hard copy of the Admission/Invitation Letter from a Slovak higher education institution or research organisation can be sent by scholarship applicant’s host institution in Slovakia directly to SAIA in Bratislava (please, note that in this case, the scholarship applicant must have at least a scan of the document, so he/she is able to attach it into the on-line application; otherwise he/she will not be able to submit the application). For the submission of the document the same requirements apply as for other documents submitted as original hard copies.

The required documents are submitted to the following address:

Required documents that must be attached to the scholarship on-line application for a study/research stay in Slovakia in case of foreign university students and PhD students (category A and B):

• Curriculum Vitae;
• cover letter (motivation letter);
• detailed study programme, in case of university students (please, state the date of the beginning of your scholarship stay, period of your stay, list of courses that you would like to take during your stay and number of credits that you will be awarded for the respective courses);
• detailed research programme, in case of PhD students (please, state the date of the beginning of your scholarship stay, period of your stay and a detailed timetable of your stay);
• in case of university students, two recommendation letters from their university teachers; in case of PhD students, one recommendation letter from his/her dissertation supervisor – on the date of the application deadline, recommendation letters must not be older than 3 months;
• confirmation from a sending institution that the university student is a full-time university student of the respective higher education institution, or in case of PhD students, a confirmation that he/she is a PhD student of the respective higher education institution/research organisation – expected date of the completion of university/PhD studies must be stated in the confirmation; on the date of the application deadline, the confirmation must not be older than 3 months; (*)
• copy of a Bachelor/Master diploma, diploma supplement and state examination certificate (if any);
• list of publications in required form, in case of PhD students;

• Admission/Invitation Letter from a higher education institution or research organisation in Slovakia – host institution commits to accept the scholarship applicant for a study/research/teaching stay (the exact period of the stay must be stated in the document). The Admission/Invitation Letter must be issued on letter-head paper of the host institution and it must be signed by the person who issued the document. In case of PhD students, the Admission/Invitation Letter should not be just a formal invitation, but it should reflect the interest of the host institution in applicant’s study/research/teaching stay in the framework of the NSP. Period of the scholarship stay stated in the Admission/Invitation Letter must match with the period stated in applicant’s on-line application and on the date of the application deadline, it must not be older than 3 months. (*)

Required documents that must be attached to the scholarship on-line application for a research/teaching/artistic stay in Slovakia in case of foreign university teachers, researchers and artists:

• Curriculum Vitae;
• detailed teaching and/or research programme (please, state the date of the beginning of your scholarship stay, period of your stay and a detailed timetable of your stay);
• copy of a diploma with the highest academic degree achieved;
• list of publications in required form;

• Invitation Letter from a higher education institution or research organisation in Slovakia (the exact period of the stay must be stated in the document). The Invitation Letter must be issued on letter-head paper of the host institution and it must be signed by the person who issued the document. In case of university teachers, researchers and artists, the Invitation Letter should not be just a formal invitation, but it should reflect the interest of the host institution in applicant’s research/teaching/artistic stay in the framework of the NSP. Period of the scholarship stay stated in the Invitation Letter must match with the period stated in applicant’s on-line application and on the date of the application deadline, it must not be older than 3 months. (*)

 Note: Documents marked by the asterisk (*) must be submitted to SAIA in Bratislava according to the conditions stated above.

6. SELECTION PROCEDURE

Selection Committee decides who will be awarded a scholarship in the framework of the NSP. The Committee is appointed by the Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.  Decisions of the Committee are based on the documents attached to applicants’ on-line application. It focuses on:

• reasons why the applicant decided to spend a part of his/her studies or his/her research/teaching/artistic stay at the respective host institution;
• detailed programme of applicant’s study/research/teaching/artistic stay and use of the acquired results in his/her future studies or research/teaching/artistic activities;
• applicant’s professional and personal qualities;
• study or research achievements;
• attitude of the host institution towards the applicant in Admission/Invitation Letter;
• overall quality of the submitted application.

SAIA is obliged to announce the results within 8 weeks after the application deadline.

Every scholarship holder will receive by post from SAIA a Letter of Award (confirmation on being awarded a scholarship in the framework of the NSP) and other documents with information on and requirements for the settlement of scholarship payment.

More information:

Lukáš MARCIN, programme administrator

This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:

http://www.scholarships.sk/en/main/o-programe