Press release: Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science finances 66 candidates for master, doctoral and postdoctoral studies

 In the framework of the Project “Higher Education and Research for Innovations and Competitiveness - HERIC”, carried out for the second year successively, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science will finance 66 candidates: 49 scholarship winners of master studies, 7 of doctoral and 10 of postdoctoral studies.

Ministry of Education will finance the master scholarships with the sum of 364,400 EUR, whereas the Ministry of Education will finance doctoral and postdoctoral studies with 194,961 EUR in the net amount.

The open competition, published by the ministries of education and science, entered 120 candidates: 97 for master programmes, 11 for doctoral and 12 for postdoctoral studies.

After the application deadline, an administrative application documentation check was conducted. 94 applications were selected for further selection, 74 for masters, 8 for doctoral and 12 for postdoctoral studies, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science formed, according to the WB rules, evaluation expert commissions, with three foreign experts on board. Expert commissions prepared the final evaluation report for each candidate, with joint comments and final marks which will be sent to each candidate. The Commissions, after the evaluation, decided that the right to the scholarship will be given to 49 candidates for masters studies, 7 for doctoral studies and 10 for postdoctoral studies.

The evaluation procedure, open and transparent, was carried out in line with the Stipend Programme Management Manual.

Scholarships for master studies are awarded to students of the renown HE institutions abroad (“full time” student). The stipends are awarded for the period from one to two years, depending on the duration of the master’s programme.

Scholarships for doctoral studies are awarded to students of doctoral studies at the universities of Montenegro, with obligation to carry out a study/research stay abroad in the duration of minimum three months.

Scholarships for postdoctoral studies are awarded to researchers working in Montenegro, for their research stays from 6 to 12 months at prestigious institutions abroad in order to gain international research experience.

After completing their studies, awardees have to return to Montenegro and apply their knowledge in the national science and innovation system.

The purpose of the Programme is building of research capacities through scholarships for master, doctoral and postdoctoral studies, by which we provide support to young, talented students and researchers from Montenegro, wishing to continue their academic and research development and obtain international vocational experience and access to modern research infrastructure.

The Programme is created with joint forces of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science within the HERIC Programme, financed from the WB loan, whose main goal is to empower the quality and relevance of the HE and research in Montenegro, through the reform of financing and quality assurance system and strengthening the research and development capacities.

The complete structure of the National Scholarships Programme was developed according to the EU model programme “Horizon 2020”, and Marie Curie scholarship programme. In this way all successful applicants gained significant experience for applying for other European funds in the field of science, research and education.

On the basis of the open competition in 2015, 38 master students, 25 students of doctoral studies and 4 students of postdoctoral studies have obtained knowledge, skills and competencies at prestigious universities and scientific centres in the world. The Ministry of Education has allocated 270,000 EUR last year for this purpose, whereas the Ministry of Science allocated 355,000 EUR in the gross amount.

The scholarship awardee rank lists are published on the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science websites.

PR Department