Programme Overview
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LAW AND HUMANITIES PROGRAM Roma Education Fund Scholarship Program |
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The Roma Education Fund Scholarship Program (REF/SP) and “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” Foundation announces the ninth year of Law and Humanities Program for eligible Roma students at the university level in Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia, for the 2012-2013 academic year. The funds for Law and Humanities Program come from the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation and the Roma Education Fund.
REF Law and Humanities Program
The amount of the annual LHP scholarship grant is calculated on the basis of 130EUR per academic month. The LHP scholarship must be used to cover textbooks, exam fees and partially living expenses. If funds permit, the LHP scholarship may, at its sole discretion, also cover partial or full tuition fee expenses, however, the total amount of the grant shall in no case exceed 2,300 EUR, combined by 1,300 EUR basic scholarship per academic year plus the tuition fee. Please note that there is no guarantee that the scholarship amount will cover partial or full tuition for a successful applicant. The scholarships are not automatically awarded for the subsequent academic year; scholars can apply for renewal subject to successful completion of the prior academic year.
1. Eligibility Criteria for Applicants
5. Communication of Selection Decisions
6. Stages of Application and Deadlines
7. Additional Program Components
1. Eligibility Criteria for Applicants
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Eligibility criteria of the REF/Scholarship Program (REF/SP) set standards, according to which applicants’ qualifications are assessed. The Program Applications are screened against eligibility criteria. The applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria of the Program are not further considered in the academic competition of the Program.
Note: All shortlisted applicants (i.e. first year students at any level) will be required to participate in a personal interview(see below details on interviews).
REF can support under LHP Scholarship scheme the same applicant throughout his/her studies for:
- one Bachelor degree, for maximum 4/5 years (if integrated study model), with one transfer to another university /faculty /field of studies being allowed only once;
- one Master degree, for maximum two years;
- one Doctorate degree, for maximum three years.
Applicants who receive an academic scholarship from other organization(s) for the academic year 2012-2013, are not eligible for REF LHP. Employees of REF, the Open Society Foundations or national foundations of the Soros Foundations Network (SFN), as well as those individuals working on projects funded by the REF or who receive honoraria (consultants, fellowships) from REF or SFN, are not eligible for REF Scholarship.
Applicants should:
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declare themselves as Roma; |
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declare as willing to appear publicly as Roma; |
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have been (or will be) accepted at a state accredited university in their home country or country of residence in the upcoming academic year; persons planning to get enrolled in a university in the upcoming year, but not enrolled in one at the moment of application, are also eligible; please note that the home country orcountry of residence has to be one of the Program countries as follows: Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine; |
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pursue studies for obtaining a Bachelor, Master, or Doctorate degree; |
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submit a complete Online Application Form (OAF) by the program’s set deadline; |
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submit a Statement of Purpose that expresses their academic goals and/or accomplishments and shows their commitment and motivation to study (as specified in OAF); |
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submit an Essay based on the topic(s) specified in the OAF; |
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provide an official transcript of the university grades from all completed academic years, as well as the latest completed semester of September – December 2011. If the applicant has not been enrolled in school/university recently, he or she should provide certified copies of the latest received grade transcripts and /or diplomas; |
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submit at least one detailed and informative Reference Letter, describing the academic performance and/or extra-curricular (including Roma-related) activities of the applicant; |
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study in one of the following fields: law, humanities, public administration, journalism, political science, sociology, psychology, pedagogy, philosophy, economics, finance and banking, business administration, history, international relations and European studies, communications and public relations, medicine, engineering, ecology or environmental studies, biology, mathematics, physics and arts.Priority will be given to students pursuing education in Law and Humanities. However, if funds allow, the program will also consider applicants studying in the other fields mentioned above; |
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provide evidence of acceptance in university studies within a recognized university in the applicants’ own country or country of residence by presentation of an original university enrolment certificate for the academic year for which they are applying for scholarship support. |
2. Selection Criteria
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Selection criteria for REF scholarship schemes take into account the quality of the information and documents submitted. The applicants must strive to comply with the selection criteria and present competitive application materials. The selection criteria for all Program countries and schemes are as follows:
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competitive Grade Point Average (GPA); in case of higher-than-anticipated demand for scholarship support in Program countries, the GPA criterion may become more demanding; |
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the content and structure of the statement of purpose; |
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the academic quality and structure of the essay; |
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participation in academic seminars, conferences, workshops, summer schools, and/or competitions, including Roma-related activities, constitute an advantage in the overall score; |
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performance at the interview (for those applicants invited to the interview). |
Further considerations
Major considerations of the selection process of the Scholarship Program include the following:
- The Program classifies the applicants in two groups for further selection: renewal applicants and new applicants.
Renewal applicants - Students who received a REF scholarship for the previous academic year and are applying to renew their scholarship. New applicants - Students who did not receive a REF scholarship in the previous academic year, regardless of whether they received it in earlier years. - The Program has established a quota per country based on a combination of factors. Among these are estimation of Roma population ratio per country, availability of affirmative measures in tertiary education, and accessibility of alternativestudent/loan funds of the potential applicant pool.
The Program has established GPA as one of the criteria for selection. The minimum GPA that applicants should have in order to be selected for the scholarship depends on the competition of each year.
3. Decision Making Mechanisms
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REF/SP is responsible in the selection process for the eligibility check only, as made by Country Coordinators. Further, REF/SP responsibility is to ensure that the established mechanism and criteria are observed and utilized accordingly by the relevant bodies, as explained bellow. Those interested in further details regarding the roles of SP and Country Coordinators are kindly invited to read the Operational Manual.
Selection of scholars from the pool of applicants is carried out by a National Selection Board (NSB). The NSB members for the LHP are selected for their positions through an open competition and serve in the boards from 3 to 5 years. The Program strives to select representatives of academia and of Roma communities for the NSBs in all Program countries.
4. Selection Process
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The selection process consists of several steps and levels, with slight variations according to the specific Program. Key steps are explained below.
Step One: Verifying whether the requirements of the Eligibility criteria of the Program are met. The step consists of a technical verification of each application, which is done by the REF/SP staff.
Step Two: Evaluating the application content. The evaluation is carried out by the REF/SP NSB in respective program countries. The NSB members review the submitted applications by assigning scores to each application according to a pre-established set of criteria and consequently by ranking all the applications from a particular scheme and country. Based on the ranking system, applicants are either shortlisted (on accepted conditionally list or on the waiting list), or rejected.
Step Three: Conducting personal interviews with the applicants who are going to study in the first academic year of the level (Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate) in 2012-2013. The short-listed applicants will be invited to a compulsory interview with the NSB members in each program country (see below details on interviews). After the interviews the ranking of candidates and the classification of applicants into the “accepted conditionally list” and “waiting list” in a program country is updated.
Step Four: submission of enrolment certificates in universities for the 2012-2013 academic year: the short-listed applicants will be also required to submit by the set deadline an enrolment certificate proving that they are enrolled in the academic program specified in the application in the 2012-2013 academic year.
Step Five: finalization of the selection process: after the completion of the four steps mentioned above, the program reanalyzes the lists of short-listed candidates to determine the final lists of beneficiaries. The short-listed candidates who were ranked within the “accepted conditionally” list and who submitted an adequate enrollment certificate by the submission deadline become beneficiaries of the program. From the same category, those candidates who have not submitted an adequate enrolment certificate by the submission deadline are rejected and replaced with applicants from the waiting list.
| IMPORTANT: Shortlisted applicants to LHP will be required to participate in a personal interview. The notification for personal interviews, as well as the venue, will be forwarded to the concerned applicants via e-mail by the Program’s Country Coordinators. The interviews will be conducted by the NSB members. Invited applicants who will fail to attend the interviews will not be considered for the further selection process. The transportation costs to attend the interview site will be covered by REF. |
5. Communication of Selection Decisions
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The Program communicates the outcomes of the selection process to the applicants via e-mail, on two occasions:
- Firstly, after Step Three mentioned above (end of July /beginning of August) when applicants will receive either an official Rejection Letter with specified reasons for rejection, or a Notification Letter containing instructions on further steps to be undertaken by the candidate in order to stay in the competition;
- Secondly, after Step Five mentioned above (October) when applicants will receive either an official Rejection Letter with specified reasons for rejection, or an Acceptance Letter.
The applicants may appeal against the National Selection Board’s decision within one month time from the moment of receiving the selection result from the Program. The appeals should be sent to REF/SP to the scholarships@romaeducationfund.org
Please use this email address only for appeals. For other enquiries, please contact the Country Coordinator.
The REF/SP team categorizes the appeals and gives them a resolution. Depending on the nature of appeals, REF/SP may decide to forward appeals to the Scholarship Program Ombudsman, who reviews individual appeal cases based on the materials and evidence provided by the applicants, the Program, and the NSB or ISB.
6. Stages of Application and Deadlines
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In order to be considered for scholarship in the academic year 2012-2013 you will have to comply with the two deadlines/stages described in detail below.
Stage One – Deadline: May 11th, 2012
Online Application Form (OAF) - must be completed exhaustively; applicants must provide all the requested information and documents.
The Reference Letter(s) - must be scanned and uploaded as attachments within the OAF, and must:
- be written by an individual familiar with the applicant’s academic or/and Roma-related activities; such person can be the applicant’s university professor, an NGO leader or work supervisor;
- bear the original signature and stamp (if available) of the reference person;
Grade transcripts - must be scanned and uploaded as attachments within the application form and:
- be an official academic grade transcript from all completed academic years as well as the latest completed semester of September – December 2011 (in case applicants have not been enrolled in school/university lately please provide certified copies of the latest received grade transcripts and /or diplomas);
- bear the original stamp of the university and signature of the university representative.
ID/passport - must be scanned and uploaded as attachments within OAF, and must:
- be legible and, if an ID, have copies of both sides.
Contractual Obligations - is a part of the OAF that needs to be accepted by Applicants in order to be further considered for the academic competition:
- the Contractual Obligations constitute a legally binding article serving as an agreement by the applicant to follow the REF/SP requirements and conditions if the applicant is selected for the scholarship;
- the Contractual Obligations will be reviewed and agreed within OAF by each applicant;
- signing the Contractual Obligations does NOT entitle or guarantee the selection of the applicant for a scholarship.
Stage Two - Deadline: September 15th 2012.
Enrolment certificate - must be scanned and uploaded as attachment to the application form and must:
- be an original enrolment certificate from the applicants’ university showing that he or she is enrolled for the academic year 2012-2013;
- contain the applicant’s full name, his or her year of study, name of university, faculty, department, specialization and type of study (i.e. full time, part time, distance etc.);
- NOT bear corrections unless stamped and signed by the issuing person.
Tuition fee certificate - must be scanned and uploaded as attachment to the application form and:
- be an original tuition fee certificate indicating cost of tuition for the academic year 2012-2013 (if applicable); the tuition amount should be indicated on the enrolment certificate, an additional stamp needs to be placed next to the amount indicated.
The grant amount for LHP is 1,300 EUR/year; the scholarship can go up to 2,300 EUR considering the amount of tuition fees to be paid.
Applicants are strongly advised to read carefully the requirements and specific guidelines of the Program and contact the Country Coordinator in case they require clarifications.
7. Additional Program Components
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Besides the scholarships, the beneficiaries of LHP program have the opportunity to participate in other activities designed to facilitate their academic and professional development. The list of these activities is specified below.
LHP International Internship Grant
All LHP beneficiaries of the 2012-2013 academic year, as well as the beneficiaries who graduated the program in the last 5 years, will be eligible to compete for additional grants to participate in international internships. The Program will distribute up to 5 international internship grants in 2012-2013. Each Grant will provide up to 500 EUR per month to contribute to the living costs of students participating in international internships, for a period up to 3 months. The Grants are distributed on a competitive basis and keeping in mind the proportional distribution of Grants per each Program country. While the internship can be done throughout the year, the applicants will be required to prove that the period of internship for which funds are required does not conflict with any academic obligations. Further details for the application and selection process are posted here. The deadline for applications in the current academic year is May 15th, 2012 or June 15, 2012.
LHP Small Scale Project Grant
All LHP beneficiaries for the 2012-2013 academic year, as well as the beneficiaries who graduated the program in the last 5 years, will be eligible to apply for small-scale grants, to implement projects in support of Roma communities, at local or regional level. The program will distribute in 2012-2013 up to 2-3 small scale project grants. The maximum amount of one Grant is 2,500 EUR. Priority will be given to proposals submitted by groups composed by current and former beneficiaries. While the small scale projects can be implemented throughout the year, the applicants will be required to prove that the period of implementation does not conflict with any academic obligations. Further details for the application and selection process will be posted on the REF website here by middle of May, 2012. The deadlines for applications in the current academic year will be June 15th, 2012, or August 15th, 2012.
LHP Language Courses Grant
All LHP beneficiaries of the 2012-2013 academic year will be eligible for additional funds to attend foreign language courses, in an accredited language school in their locality of residence. The program will disburse up to 10 language courses grants in each program country, in an amount of up to 200 EUR for a student. In case the demand exceeds the number of language grants per country, the selection will be competitive-based. Further details for the application and selection process will be posted on the REF website here.
LHP Annual Conference
The LHP Program is organizing each summer a Regional Student Conference in one of the program countries. In 2012 the conference will be held in Moldova (Chisinau), for 2-3 days in the month of August. All LHP beneficiaries of 2011-2012 academic year will be invited to participate. Travel expenses, as well as board and lodging costs, will be covered by LHP. The topic of the conference, as well as other relevant details, will be posted on the REF website here by middle of May, 2012.
| Please note that according to the REF /SP Program Policies and Procedures, applicants found responsible for sending forged documents shall not be further considered for any REF funded Programs. |
