The Belgian Bilateral Scholarship Programme

Within the framework of its cooperation programme with Vietnam, the government of Belgium wants to support the government of Vietnam in its efforts to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development. The Belgian Bilateral Scholarships (BBS) constitute an important component of this cooperation programme, which aims to contribute to the long-term growth and stability of Vietnam.

Belgian Bilateral Scholarships, funded through the Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGDC) under the Federal Public Service of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, enable young professionals from Vietnam to pursue postgraduate studies in Belgium and gain new expertise for the benefit of their country. The program is managed and implemented by the Belgian Embassy in Hanoi and the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC).

Since 2001, through the Programme, more than 148 scholarship holders have graduated from different Master courses and more than 50 people have been pursuing doctoral studies on different subjects in Belgium. 

Quantity and type of scholarships within the framework of the Programme

For the academic year 2010-2011, 40 scholarships are made available for Vietnamese nationals who want to obtain Master or PhD degrees from universities in Belgium.

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

For Mixed PhD award holders, the scholarship only covers the period spent in Belgium. In addition, support for fieldwork costs (data collection, experiments, materials for experiments etc.) is also available. Award holders have to prepare a justified cost estimate signed by both Vietnamese and Belgian promoters and submit it to BTC Hanoi for approval.

Who can apply

The Programme encourages applications from all provinces and regions of Vietnam, from public institutions, civil society, NGOs and the private sector.

For Mixed PhD scholarships, only applicants coming from Universities and Research Institutes are eligible for BBS programme ^NEW

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.

Eligibility

     For Master studies:

         Applicants must be nationals of, and residing in Vietnam;

         Not being older than 35 years (as of 28^th December 2009);

         Having a full-time official university degree;

         Having 02 full years’ experience (after undergraduate study up to December 2009). The experience must be relevant to the selected Master:

         Candidates must be fluent in English or in French. Minimum requirements by the BBS Programme are:

o       for French: TCF score of at least 400 or DELF B1 or equivalent certificates;

o       for English: IELTS score of at least 6.0 or 550 TOEFL pBT or 79 TOEFL iBT. Institutional TOEFL will NOT be accepted.

For Mixed PhD studies:

         Applicants must be nationals of, and residing in Vietnam;

         Not being older than 40 years (as of 28^th December 2009);

         Having at least 01 full year of working experience after Master study (as of 28^th December 2009);

         Candidates applying for a Mixed PhD scholarship must have a research subject and an acceptance letters of the Belgian and Vietnamese promoters before submission of their application;

         Candidates must be fluent in English or in French. Minimum requirements by the BBS Programme are:

o       French: TCF score of at least 400 or DELF B1 or equivalent certificates;

o       English: IELTS score of at least 6.0 or 550 TOEFL pBT or 79 TOEFL iBT. Institutional TOEFL will NOT be accepted.

Important Note:

          Candidates must already have 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 requirements of the different courses concerning language certificates and score.

          Applicants are not obliged to have a letter of admission from a Belgian university for the academic year of 2010-2011 before submission of application and/or interviews. However, holding such a letter of admission will be an advantage.

          GRE/GMAT is required by some universities for courses in Economics, Finance or Natural Sciences. Please check this requirement directly with the university you want to apply for before submitting an application to the Embassy.

What kind of courses can be studied under a Belgian Bilateral Scholarship (BBS)?

Scholarships are awarded for Master and Mixed PhD studies which could be followed either in French or in English at a Belgian university.

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

Mixed PhD studies normally last for 48 months of which 16 months will be spent in Belgium and the rest of the time in Vietnam. Applicants must choose the research subject and reach an agreement on the work plan with the promoters (Belgian and Vietnamese) before the submission of their application.

Within the framework of the Belgian Bilateral Scholarship Programme, the fields of study are not restricted. However, priority will be given to the areas of intervention of the Belgian development cooperation in Vietnam, notably: environment, water and sanitation, waste management, education, health, agriculture and rural development, engineering and governance.

For which Belgian universities can BBS candidates apply?

There is no restriction concerning the Belgian universities for which a candidate can apply. However, courses in international colleges located in Belgium are not eligible for Belgian Bilateral Scholarships.

Candidates are strongly advised to contact the selected university for confirmation on the availability of the course in the 2010-2011 academic year and the language of instruction before the submission of their application. 

The following websites will enable the candidates to find more detailed information on the Belgian universities:                        www.studyinflanders.be  and       www.studyinbelgium.be

Application procedure

APPLICATION FOR 2010 INTAKE OPENS ON 1^ST SEPTEMBER 2009

AND CLOSES ON 28^TH DECEMBER 2009

1.       Application form

§ The application form for Master studies can be downloaded here: Master form 2010

§ The application form for Mixed PhD studies can be downloaded here: Mixed PhD form 2010

The application form should be filled in clearly and completely either in English or French, preferably typewritten and duly signed by the candidates. Incomplete files or files missing any of the documents listed under Point 12 shall be rejected.

MASTER APPLICATION

Section 1 - Personal Information: This section asks about personal details. Please note that the scholarship funds the costs for the award holder only. If candidates wish to take any member of their family to Belgium, they will have to bear the cost themselves.

Section 2 - Postal address (should be filled-in correctly in Vietnamese): 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. Please also indicate whether home or professional addresses are preferred for sending the letter with the results. 

Section 3 - Proficiency in foreign language: Please make sure that the language proficiency test results are valid until at least 30^th June 2010. For those applicants who took the language test recently and are awaiting for the result, please indicate the date of the test as well as the expected date for the result. Please note that the supplementary document will only be accepted until 15^th January 2010.

Section 8 - Request for scholarship: Applicants should fill in the precise title of the course, duration and the university. Please note that an applicant can only choose one course at one university. For further information, applicants can go to 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 9 – 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 the candidate upon his/her 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 9, applicants could continue in the Section 10. 

MIXED PhD APPLICATION

Sections 1-3: Subject to the same guidelines as for the Master form above.

Section 8 - Information on the proposed research subject: Apart from contact details of both Belgian and Vietnamese promoters, it is important to specify their roles during the proposed research. More importantly, this section will help the selection committee to understand better the proposed research in a non-academic language. Therefore, it is required to give a description of the research, providing information on the objectives, research questions, methodology adopted and the expected outcomes as well as the importance of the research for Vietnam.

Section 9 – Statement of Motivation and Future Plans: There are three main questions that need to be well addressed. Please elaborate the answers of these questions clearly and coherently into a convincing statement of motivation. This statement should not exceed 400 words (or 4,000 characters).

2.       Documents that should accompany the completed application form

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

          A copy of birth certificate.

         Copies of University / Master degrees.

         Copies of academic (University / Master) transcripts.

          Copies of the international language certificates or the notice of the result.

          A short explanation about the grading system in Vietnam, certified by Vietnamese universities (This document aims to assist the Belgian universities to better understand the meaning of the grading system in Vietnam, and therefore to be able to assess the qualifications of applicants through their transcripts).

          Two (2) letters of recommendation (professional or academic) with detailed references, with certified translation into English or French (if necessary).

          Authorization letter of the current employer (see Template in Annex 1 of the Application form).

          A curriculum Vitae.

          A copy of the admission letter from a Belgian university for the academic year of 2010-2011 (if available).

          A self-addressed envelope, where you wish to receive the letter informing about the result of your application.

For candidates applying for Mixed PhD scholarships, in addition to the above-mentioned documents, the following documents need to be submitted: 

-          Acceptance letters from the Belgian and Vietnamese promoters. In these letters, the promoters are expected to give their initial assessment on the proposed research; 

-          The work plan signed by the candidate and both Belgian and Vietnamese promoters (see Template in Annex 2 of the Application form);

3.       Submission and Deadline

One (01) original and three (03) copies of the completed application forms attached with the above mentioned documents are to be sent in a sealed envelope marked “Application for 2010/11 Belgian Bilateral Scholarships” no later than 17h00, Monday 28^th December 2009 to:

Development Cooperation Division
Embassy of Belgium
9/F 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 or sent/received after the deadline will be rejected.

Selection procedure and process

The Belgian Embassy will screen the application forms and draw up a shortlist of candidates. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview either in Hanoi or in Ho Chi Minh city. Candidates must ensure that they are available for the interview during this period.

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.

Important Note:

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

Indicative timeline for applications

28 December 2009                               Deadline for submission of applications

18 – 23 January 2010                Shortlisted candidates are contacted for interviews

25 January - 10 February 2010              Interviews (this might be slightly changed due to New Year’s Holiday)

2^nd week of March 2010                        Inform result of applications and of interviews to all applicants (by the Belgian Embassy)

August - September 2010         Award scholarships (by the Belgian Technical Cooperation)

Further information

For all questions related to the Belgian Bilateral Scholarship Programme, please contact the following persons at the Belgian Embassy in Hanoi:

Mrs. Ngo Thu Huong

Attaché-adjoint (Development Cooperation)

In charge of the BBS Programme

ThuHuong.Ngo@diplobel.fed.be

or

Mrs. Ho Phuong Loan

Programme Assistant

PhuongLoan.Ho@diplobel.fed.be

Useful websites

Belgian Embassy in Vietnam

www.diplomatie.be/hanoi >> Services >> Cooperation >> Scholarships

Belgian Technical Cooperation in Vietnam

www2.btcctb.org/vietnam

Study in Flanders Secretariat

www.studyinflanders.be

Flemish Interuniversity Council, secretariat for University Cooperation for Development (VLIR-UOS)

www.vliruos.be

French Interuniversity Council, secretariat for University Cooperation for Development (CUD)

www.cud.be

Website with practical information for students

www.students.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