Government of Flanders Master Mind Scholarships Programme 2018/2019 for study in Belgium.

0Application Deadline: April 30th 2018

The Flemish Ministry of Education awards scholarships to outstanding students for Master programmes in Flanders and Brussels. The programme aims to promote Flanders and Brussels as a top study destination.

Applications will be accepted from all Flemish universities, Schools of Arts and the Antwerp Maritime Academy. It is estimated that 30 to 40 international excellent students can benefit from the Master Mind Scholarships 2018-2019.

Eligibility Requirements:

The applicant applies to take up a Master degree programme at a higher education institution in Flanders (hereafter ‘Host institution’).

The applicant should have a high standard of academic performance and/or potential:
o The student has a Grade Point Average of 3.0 out of 4.0: https://www.foreigncredits.com/resources/gpa-calculator/
o The student has a sufficient knowledge of the English language:
o an overall band score of minimum 7.0 on the IELTS test;
o a minimum total score of 100 on a TOEFL test;
o a C1 level on the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE);
o or a similar result in another official language test.
Students who apply for a Master programme in Arts have at least:
o an overall band score of minimum 6.5 on the IELTS test;
o a minimum total score of 90 on the TOEFL test;
o a B2 level on the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE);
o or a similar result in another official English language test.

• The Host institution also performs an academic check of the student’s file. The student has to be accepted by the Host institution to be able to receive the scholarship even if the Host institution’s decision is taken after awarding the scholarship to the student.
• All nationalities can apply. The previous degree obtained should be from a higher education institution located outside Flanders.
• Students who are already enrolled in a Flemish higher education institution cannot apply
• Student mobility during the master programme is allowed. However, at least half of the credits of the master programme must be obtained at the Flemish Host institution.

Modalities

• The duration of mobility is minimum 1 academic year (60 ECTS) and maximum the full duration of the master programme (120 ECTS).
• The incoming student is awarded a maximum scholarship of €8.000 per academic year according to the modalities mentioned in the appendix 1 Payment of the scholarship.
• The Host institution can ask the applicant for a tuition fee that equals the rate of the yearly
  tuition fee for a student from who receives a study grant from the Flemish Government. The
  rate for the academic year 2018-2019 is €108,8. This rate may increase slightly from year to year. The exact applicable rate for 2019-2020 will be communicated to the Master Mind
  beneficiaries before the 1st September 2019.
• There are a number of scholarships reserved for students from certain countries: Japan (3),
  Mexico (3), USA (5). These countries are priority countries for the Flemish government. If these numbers of scholarships are not taken up, they will be awarded according to the ranking of the candidates as decided by the Flemish Selection committee.
• Students should not combine this fellowship with another scholarship from the Flemish
  Governement.
• Upon completion of the mobility all students are expected to submit an essay for which a
  format is provided and to fill in a short questionnaire about their mobility.
• A maximum of 20 applications can be submitted per higher education institution.

Application
Step 1: The applicant submits his/her application to the Host institution. Beware of internal
deadlines set by the Host institution; some institutions have as deadline 15th February 2018!
Step 2: The Host institution accepts the application of the candidate.
Step 3: The Host institution starts the application procedure for the Master Mind scholarship by
creating the candidate’s application file in the Mobility-Online tool.
Step 4: The applicant receives an email generated by the Mobility-Online tool notifying him/her of being preselected for a Master Mind scholarship.
Step 5: The applicant registers in the Mobility-Online tool and completes his/her application file in the Mobility-Online tool before the deadline.

Documents to be uploaded:
– Passport photo
– International passport or national registration card
– Transcript of records; if written in another language than Dutch, French or English, a certified
translation must be enclosed.
– English language test results or Letter of exemption provided by the Host university
– Letter of motivation written in English
– Two letters of recommendation from professors of your (previous) Home university, University
of Applied sciences, School of Arts or recent employer written in English.
– Copy of acquired diploma(s); if written in another language than Dutch, French or English, a
certified translation must be enclosed.
– Three reasons of motivation for submission (at least 150 words) of the candidate’s file
formulated by the Host institution in English; format: entry box in the application form or a
separate document.

Step 6: The Host institution validates and submits the completed application file in the Mobility-
Online tool before the deadline of midnight 30th April 2018 GMT+1. Applications validated submitted after midnight 30th April 2018 GMT+1 will not be accepted.

Selection
In collaboration with the Flemish Ministry of Education, a Selection Committee will make the
selection after the application deadline, based on the following criteria:
o the quality of the applicant’s motivation (30 points);
o the applicant’s previous study results in the Transcript of records (30 points);
o the reasons for recommending the applicant in Recommendation letter 1 (10 points);
o the reasons for recommending the applicant in Recommendation letter 2 (10 points);
o motivation for submission by the Host institution (10 points);
o top talent profile of the applicant (10 points).

Deadline for application at Host institution: (available on:
http://www.studyinflanders.be/en/scholarship-programmes/master-mind-scholarships/)

• Deadline for application: 30th April 2018
• Selection: May 2018
• Announcement of selection results: June 2018
• Start of mobility: September 2018
• Should you have questions about the scholarship programme, please contact the Host institution or the VLUHR-secretariat: mastermind@vluhr.be.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Government of Flanders Master Mind Scholarships Programme 2018/2019