Netherlands Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Scholarship Programme

Course: Education, culture, trade
Level: Graduate, trainings
Provider: Netherlands Min. of Foreign Affairs
For Which Country: Netherlands
Description: The Middle East and North Africa Scholarship Programme (MENA Scholarship Programme) was initiated in 2007 and fully funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Programme aims to contribute to capacity building within a wide range of governmental, non-governmental and private organisations and institutions in the participating countries.
The scholarships can be used for selected short courses in the Netherlands. The MENA Scholarships are proportionally distributed among the seven participating countries. Ideally, half of the scholarships are allocated to female applicants.


Eligibility criteria: A candidate applying for a MENA scholarship must:

• apply for a course on the MENA course list 2013;
• not have received a MENA Scholarship in the three years prior to the start of the proposed MENA course;
• complete a MENA scholarship application form and submit all the required documentation to the Netherlands Embassy;
• be a national of and working in one of the seven selected countries;
• be a mid-career professional with at least three years’ work experience;
• not be employed by:meet the admission requirements of the selected course. As such he or she must have at least a diploma or a bachelor’s degree in one of the selected fields of study and meet other educational or professional requirements, which may vary per course
  • a multinational corporation (e.g. Shell, Unilever);
  • a large national and/or commercial organisation;
  • a bilateral donor organisation (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, BuZa, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid);
  • a multilateral donor organisation, (e.g. a UN organisation, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB);
  • an international NGO (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care).
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• offer evidence of proficiency in speaking and writing the language of instruction (English in most cases).

Eligible groups: The target group are professionals employed by organisations or institutions operating in one of the following sectors:

• Water management
• Business administration and management
• Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
• Geographical Information Science

You must be a national of and working in one of the seven participating countries (Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Syria and Tunisia). The need for your training must be demonstrated in the context of the organisation you work for.

Participating Institutions: All officially recognised higher educational institutions in the Netherlands. The five selected Dutch higher education institutions are:

• International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA)
• ITC, Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente
• Maastricht School of Management (MSM)
• UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
• Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation

Fields of Study: You can use a MENA scholarship for a number of selected short courses offered by educational institutions in the Netherlands, which provide professional training at post-secondary level. The MENA brochure, found on official website via link below, contains a list of all selected courses.


Number of awards: Offers around 120 scholarships a year to professionals


Sponsorship duration: The programme will run between January and December 2013. All courses will be conducted in 2013 and have a duration of between two and twelve weeks.


Scholarship benefits: A MENA scholarship is a contribution to the costs of the selected short course and should supplement your salary which you must continue to receive during the study period.
The scholarship covers:

• subsistence allowance
• international travel costs
• visa costs
• course fee
• medical insurance
• allowance for study materials

The allowances are considered to be sufficient to cover your living expenses during the study period. You must cover any other costs from your own resources.

Method of Application: Applications for the MENA Scholarship Programme should be submitted to the Netherlands Embassy in your own country before the scholarship application deadline.
You must complete and sign the MENA Scholarship application form 2013. You can obtain this form from the Netherlands Embassy in your country or download it from the official site (link is below). The application form should be accompanied by the following necessary documentation:
You should visit the official website for how you can apply and how the selection procedure works.

DEADLINES:
 There are two scholarship application deadlines for the MENA Scholarship Programme. Depending on the course, applications must be submitted at the Embassy either before 1 March 2013 or before 1 July 2013. The relevant deadlines are specified in the MENA course list 2013. Some embassies have a different deadline for submitting applications. Please contact the Netherlands embassy or Dutch Institute in your home country for more information about the deadlines.


Scholarship Application Deadline: 1 March / 1 July 2013

Open to International Applicants: Yes