2nd Competition for WorldWideStudies Scholarships Opened

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation has started the application process for the second competition of the WorldWideStudies scholarship program. Under this program aimed at fostering a new generation of Ukrainian professional elite, the foundation will award grants to up to 25 talented Ukrainians under the age of 35 to pursue a Master’s Degree at one of the world’s best universities.

Application registration is open on the website www.worldwidestudies.org from 22 November 2010 to 15 May 2011.

This year, candidates can apply for the following fields of study: agriculture, environment and ecology, law, and public administration. The Foundation will also consider applications from other fields of study provided they are related to the mentioned priority areas.

Potential Project participants - grantees:

• must be citizens of Ukraine and under 35 on the date of enrolment in the University;
  
• must have a Bachelor’s or higher Degree in the field required by the chosen foreign University and the Master’s program;
  
• will be admitted to the Master’s program of the University outside of Ukraine and will start their education in the autumn of 2011;
  
• must have a clear plan for applying in Ukraine the knowledge and skills acquired;
  
• must be committed to work in Ukraine for at least five years after finishing their studies.

The candidates will be shortlisted based on an open, nationwide competition and after having successfully applied to their chosen university. Then, they have an interview with the independent WorldWideStudies Selection panel on their study plans and on how they plan to apply the knowledge acquired upon return to Ukraine. Based on these interviews the selection panel selects the winners.

The grants will be used primarily to cover university tuition fees, books and medical insurance. The grant size is determined for each individual case based on needs and merit. The majority of the grants shall cover up to 60% of the total amount required (maximum of USD 50.000 for the overall period). Students are expected to cover the rest of the expenses by either contributing personal funds or finding matching funding. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation expects students to give return to Ukraine and work in their chosen field of study for at least 5 years.

Detailed information about terms and regulations of the competition, as well as recommendations on the selection of Master’s programs, host countries, information on specifics of education in these countries, the WWS application form can be found on the WorldWideStudies website.

Currently 17 winners of the first WorldWideStudies selective competition are studying in the Universities of the USA (3 students), Great Britain (8 students), Sweden (3 students), Switzerland (2 students) and Germany (1 student) pursuing such subject areas as ecology and protection of environment (5 students), law (9 students), public administration (2 students) and sports management (1 student). These finalists were selected from more than 260 potential candidates. Overall, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation allocated UAH 3 086 265 for the WWS pilot project in 2010.

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