DAAD / NRF In-Country Scholarships, Africa

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August 5, 2010

DAAD(German Academic Exchange Service) in partnership with the National Research Foundation (NRF) is able to offer scholarships for postgraduate studies at South African universities

Job Description : As part of the “In-Country Scholarship Programme”, in which more than two dozen African universities
and university networks participate and which annually supports some 800 African postgraduates. The programme is co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The scholarship is aimed at university staff development in the first instance, without neglecting other sector demands for academically trained personnel.
The NRF lauds this contribution of the German government as being of invaluable support to its own efforts of significantly increasing the number of post-graduate candidates receiving quality education & training; of contributing significantly to our national efforts of human capital development, especially at our tertiary institutions but also for the public and private sectors; and of tangibly engaging in the South African PhD Project and, thereby, fulfilling one of the key strategic objectives of the NRF VISION 2015.
Target Group
The programme addresses candidates who aim at acquiring a Master’s or doctoral degree. Preference will be given to young South African or permanent resident university staff members or candidates considered for teaching / research staff recruitment either for their own university or any other institution of higher education in South Africa. Staff members should be exempted from teaching for full-time studies. In exceptional cases, a limited extent of teaching obligations may be accepted but has to be motivated in writing to the NRF. The host institution has to document precisely and convincingly the quantity and content of the lecturing duties and their compliance with the prevailing goal of the academic qualification of the candidate. An intrinsic link between the teaching obligations and the content of the degree programme is indispensible.
DAAD and NRF offer up to 100 scholarships (first awards) for Master’s and Doctoral studies in 2011.
Scholarship Details
The scholarships are designed for full-time two-year Master’s courses or three-year doctoral degree studies. Note: the initial award is for one year only. For extensions an annual progress report will have to be completed and submitted to the NRF. Scholarship values are as follows:
Master’s courses: ZAR 40,000.00 p.a.
PhD degree studies: ZAR 65,000.00 p.a. Upgrading students are expected to complete an annual progress report, stating clearly that they have upgraded their studies. Upgrades will be included in the DAAD/NRF Joint In-Country Scholarship Programme. Scholarship holders are not allowed to change to any other DAAD or NRF funding streams during the tenure of the award. However scholarship holders are encouraged to apply on completion of their funding (eg. completion of masters degree and wanting to apply for doctoral funding). Additional funds are not awarded to awardees on this scholarship for research funding, travel grants to conferences except for the short term (2-6 months) research visits to Germany mentioned below.
Short-term research scholarships (2 – 6 months) tenable at a German university
In selected cases, the scholarship-holder may apply for a short-term research fellowship (duration 2-6 months) in Germany where parts of the thesis-related research would significantly gain from this research visit because of required equipment, co-supervision or similar reasons. The applicant will have to present a current invitation by a German professor who is willing to supervise the research during the envisaged stay in Germany, besides a convincing letter of motivation and a clearly defined time schedule for the research stay.
Application forms for these short-term research fellowships and further information can be obtained from:
http://ic.daad.de/johannesburg/scholarships.htm
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be South African citizens or hold permanent residence status in South Africa (in the latter case, both certified proof of employment and residency must be provided). Applicants from third countries are eligible only for PhD programmes and under the condition that they are employed at the university where the PhD is to be pursued. Applicants must have obtained an accumulative average of 65% and above to be considered Female candidates and those belonging to historically disadvantaged groups are particularly encouraged to apply An age limit of 36 years at the time of application applies Applicants may come from all those fields of study that have a strong relevance to national development (natural sciences, mathematics, ICT, engineering, agricultural sciences, applied social sciences).
However, the humanities and fine arts are excluded from this programme. Applicants who already hold a qualification for the level of funding they are applying for are not eligible. Scholarships-holders are allowed to hold supplementary bursaries, grants or emoluments with unlimited values. However the scholarship may not be held simultaneously with a bursary/scholarship from any other NRF source or administered source without prior NRF/ DAAD permission. If the applicant does receive supplementary funding during the duration of the scholarship, this will need to be declared to the NRF/ DAAD. Scholarship-holders may not hold full-time salaried employment during the duration of the scholarship. They will be allowed to undertake a maximum of 10 hours of teaching, tutorials, assistance or demonstration duties per week on average.
Application Documents
Proof of South African ID Document Proof of Permanent Residency together with letter indicating university employment (if applicable) Recommendation by Supervisor Official and certified university degree certificates including transcripts minimum accumulative academic requirement of 65% in previous degree Admission letter indicating full time registration (if applicable) 2 Reference Letters
Application Procedure Applications must be sent through to the National Research Foundation (NRF) via the university
Research Office / Postgraduate Office / Financial Aid Office / Bursary Office. Applicants must download the DAAD/NRF Joint In-Country Scholarship Application Form from the NRF website: www.nrf.ac.za, Application forms can be found on the home page under the “funding opportunities” category
Complete the application form Once all the information is completed and all the relevant documentation is attached, submit (scanned complete application forms) electronically to the office in charge of the DAAD/ NRF In- Country Scholarship programme at your university (Research Office / Postgraduate Office / Financial Aid Office / Bursary Office); the university designated authorities of the NRF will validate the application and forward it to the NRF to consider