The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africain partnership and Nuffic (the Netherlands organisation for internationalisation in education represented locally in South Africa by Nuffic’s Netherlands Education Support Office), is pleased to announce a pre-call for the 2019 NRF-Nuffic Doctoral Scholarships.
In recognition of the long standing collaboration between South Africa and the Netherlandsin education and research, and with the ambition to strengthen postgraduate training while enhancing sustainable collaboration between South African and Dutch higher education institutions(HEIs), anagreement was signed in 2017 between the NRF and Nuffic.
This is an implementing agreement under the MOU Science & Technology (2015) between South Africa and the Netherlands.Through thispartnership, doctoral scholarships will be provided for South African citizens and permanent residents to study full-timein the Netherlands (i.e. single sitemode). Institutional level agreements between Dutch HEIsand Partner Institutions in South Africa to enable full-time joint doctoral degrees will also be supported (i.e. split sitemode).
The scholarship is intended to support doctoral candidates to pursue research studies in all areas of (i) Science, (ii) Engineering (iii) Technology, (iv) the Social Sciences and (v) Humanities, at universities in participating countries. The percentage of supported students will be 80% from the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines and 20% from the Social Sciences and Humanities, in line with South Africa’s National Development Plan.
Preference will also be given to applications to obtain a Doctoral degree in a vulnerable discipline such as Statistics, Mathematics and Nursing, emerging research areas or where there exists a paucity of research infrastructure and/or suitably qualified supervisors in South Africa.
Applicant Eligibility
To be eligible, applicants must:
Be South African citizens or permanent residents with a SA ID number, although South African citizens will be prioritised;
Not hold this scholarship concurrently with any other NRF or South African/Netherlands government scholarship;
Provide a Master’s degree certificate or an official document from the university certifying that all requirements for the Master’s degree have been met and that they will be graduating;
Be intending to pursue full-time doctoral studies; and
Not hold full-time salaried employment during the tenure of the award.
Benefits:
Eligibility Institution and Supervisor
Eligibility
To be eligible to participate in this doctoral training initiative, participating institutions and supervisors must meet the following requirements:
Dutch HEIs will waive tuition fees or in the case that a tuition fee applies, this will not be charged to the NRF or the individual scholarship awardee;
Dutch HEIs will provide research running costs (i.e. costs that can reasonably be expected to accrue during the course of the doctoral research period) and access to research infrastructure;
Doctoral supervisory capacity must be in place at both the Dutch HEIs and the South African Partner Institution,in the case of joint degrees;
Supervisors must commit to evaluate the academic suitability of the applicant andendorse the research proposal (including time frames) before the application is submitted to the NRF for merit review. Supervisors may do this through email correspondence with the applicant and via other electronic media such as Skype or video conferencing;
Supervisors must submit a letter of support indicating that the necessary research infrastructure, resources and funds for undertaking the research and supporting the doctoral student exists within their faculty/school/department. Supervisors may only support one (1) applicant per year;
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the NRF-Nuffic Doctoral Scholarships 2019