EU funded scholarships open to Filipinos, other Asians

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines — Graduate scholarships and other academic opportunities are now open to Filipinos and nationals of other Asian countries under a European Union-funded project.

Called “Exchange by Promoting Quality Education, Research, and Training in South and South-East Asia (EXPERTS II),” the project is supported by EU through the Erasmus Mundus Action 2.

The opportunities are in the form of scholarships for graduate (doctoral or PhD and master’s or MS) studies, postdoctoral fellowships, and student exchange visits in European universities.

EXPERTS II is open to Filipinos as well as nationals of eight other Asian countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Qualifiers can pursue their studies in any of seven European EXPERTS II partner-universities: Georg-August Universitat Gottingen in Germany, Katholieki Universiteit in Belgium, Masaryk University in Czech Republic, Politecnico di Torino in Italy, Universidad Santiago de Compostela in Spain, University of Turku in Finland and Uppsala University in Sweden.

An orientation on the EXPERTS II scholarships was conducted recently at the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA) based in the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) campus here.

Violeta Osouchova, financial and project manager of EXPERTS II at Masaryk University in Czech Republic, conducted the orientation on the scholarship program at SEARCA. The briefing was attended by students, researchers and academics.

Osouchova reported that the call for applications for the scholarships opened last Nov. 7 and will end on Feb. 10. About 100 scholarships will be awarded in June 2012, in time for the Autumn 2012 enrolment.

The consortium’s emphasis is research and cooperation, establishing collaborative framework for human resource development through training and upgrading the skills of junior faculty staff, undergraduates, postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers by specified learning objects in engineering and technology, agricultural sciences, environmental studies, business management, and social sciences.

Interested parties may visit the EXPERTS website at http://www.expertsasia. eu for more information on the scholarship, particularly its application process and requirements.