Government of Canada Awards to foreign students for graduate study in Canada

Awards are available to citizens from the following countries:

Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines and Russia

Other countries may be added to this program. Please visit this site regularly for updated information.

Objectives
Under its program of academic exchanges, Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC) offers awards on an annual basis to citizens of various countries. (Offers of awards are subject to availability of funding).

These awards, tenable only in Canada, are intended to enable foreign students of high academic standing to undertake graduate studies or post doctoral research in Canadian institutions. Awards may be applied to research or studies in all areas of the arts, the social sciences and humanities, commerce, the natural sciences and engineering. Proposed programs of study must focus on a Canadian subject or include significant Canadian content.

Selection
All applications are judged on a competitive basis. The final selection is based on the applicant's academic or artistic merit and the justification given for carrying out the proposed program of study or research in Canada.

Applications are screened by the Embassy of Canada which coordinates the competition in the applicant's home country. Those which pass this review are sent by the Embassy of Canada to the program administrators in Canada, the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE). The final selection is made on the advice of the Canadian Scholarship Selection Committee, a representative body of academic specialists. Awards are approved subject to the admission of the successful candidate to a Canadian institution. Confirmation of most placements in host institutions is normally made by the month of June following the date of application. Full scholarship holders should expect to take up their awards by September, when the Canadian academic year begins. Research scholarship and post doctoral fellowship holders must begin their program in Canada no later than the month of January following the final confirmation of their award.

Eligibility
(please also see country-specific information in the following pages)

Only citizens of participating countries are eligible. Candidates who have obtained or plan to obtain permanent resident status in Canada are not eligible. Award holders are expected to return to their respective countries at the end of their study program or research. All applicants must have sufficient facility in either of Canada's official languages, English or French.

Citizens of countries included in this program who reside in Canada are eligible to apply, and will be considered on an equal basis with applicants applying directly from their country of origin. All applicants must contact the Embassy of Canada located in their country of origin for information on country-specific requirements and to obtain, in some cases, supplementary application forms. All applications must be submitted to the Embassy of Canada or designated agency located in the country of origin of the applicant.

The proposed program of study must focus on a Canadian subject or include significant Canadian content. The foregoing requirement can relate to a large number of disciplines. In the social sciences and humanities, the awards are likely to apply chiefly to Canadian history, politics, literature, geography, sociology, economics, etc. They can also apply to subjects of international interest in which Canada has particular experience or in which Canadian expertise is widely recognized, such as bilingualism and multiculturalism, studies in ocean law and management, inter-city transportation, the northern environment, telecommunications, etc. Canadian content in science and engineering implies fields in which Canada is a leader in research on the subject and where there is international recognition of Canadian interest, experience or excellence.

Applicants for research scholarships and full scholarships must be qualified to enter a Canadian graduate program. Applicants for either of these awards must not have previously received a Canadian university degree with the assistance of a Canadian federal government agency. Applicants in the fine arts must have completed their basic training and have begun their professional career. The proposed research or study program should supplement previous training in their chosen field. Applicants must be able to undertake a well-defined program in Canada.

Preference will be given to applicants who have obtained a university degree within the last five years.

Details on the Annual Competition

Application Procedures

Source of info: http://www.scholarships-bourses-ca.org/gca/nc_GCAp1-en.html

Maurice Keyworth International Scholarships-UK

Four full fee bursaries are available for academically outstanding/particularly deserving candidates from the United Kingdom and the European Union applying to study on the following programmes. Maurice Keyworth International Scholarships
There are ten part scholarships of £3,000 each available for students from any country outside the European Union. The scholarships will be awarded for academically outstanding / particularly deserving full-time candidates for the following programmes:

MA Accounting and Finance
MA Advertising and Marketing
MSc Banking and Finance
MSc Credit Management
MA Economics
MA Economics & Development
MA Economics & Finance
MSc Financial Mathematics
MA Human Resource Management
MSc International Business
MSc International Finance
MSc International Marketing Management
MSc Management

For details on how to apply, please click here.

Two full fee scholarships for Vietnamese students

In addition to the Maurice Keyworth Scholarships there are two full fee scholarships available for academically outstanding / particularly deserving candidates from Vietnam for the following programmes:

MA Accounting and Finance
MA Economics
MA Economics and Finance
MA Human Resource Management

The deadline for the submission of applications for scholarships for Vietnamese students is 30 April 2006.

How to Apply

In order to be considered for a scholarship, candidates will need to complete and return the appropriate application form by the deadline stated on the application form. Application forms can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant link below:

Maurice Keyworth UK/EU Scholarship
Maurice Keyworth International Scholarship

Candidates wishing to apply for one of the full fee scholarships for Vietnamese students will automatically be considered for a scholarship when applying for an eligible programme of study.

Before a scholarship application can be considered, candidates are also required to return the appropriate application form to the Business School in order to apply for an academic place at the University of Leeds.

Applications for scholarships should be completed and posted to the following address:

Maurice Keyworth Scholarships
c/o Postgraduate Admissions Office
Leeds University Business School
Maurice Keyworth Building
The University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT

Essential Elements for Scholarship Applications

Okay, after going through the various types of scholarships you've completed your scholarship search and finally narrowed down your options to a selected few scholarships that completely suit your needs. Now the next step is to develop a first class scholarship application. In order to create a great scholarship application, the first thing you need to do is get organized. Start out with creating a file and start compiling copies of all the work you have submitted. Secondly, start making your resume.

Your resume should list details of your high school career, work experience and any social groups you belong to. Next, you sort all the scholarships available according to the scholarship application due dates and finally, make a list of requirements that each scholarhips application asks for.There are four basic elements of the scholarship application process:
# Letter(s) of recommendation
# Transcript
# Personal statement (essay)
# Activity Sheet
# Interview
The rest of the article explains in detail about the 5 essential components of the scholarship application.

Letters of Recommendation:
Most scholarships require (as part of the scholarship application process) you to submit a letter of recommendation as part of the scholarship application. This letter of recommendation can come from your high school teacher, an alumni, some prominent member of your community, or your employer. These letters are basically needed because the scholarship sponsors want to analyze your strengths and attributes from a point of view different than your own.

The first thing you should keep in mind is to make a request of a letter of recommendation early so you aren't panicking on the time of submission of the scholarship application. It should be well before your deadline so that the person who is writing the letter of recommendation has plenty of time to write a good and strong letter. You should notify the person when the scholarship application deadline is and contact them a few times before the deadline to remind them and see how the letter is going.

When you are selecting someone to write a letter of recommendation for your scholarship application, it is a wise decision to ask someone who knows you very well and admires you for the person you are and for what you have achieved. A person who knows you well can talk about your strengths and weaknesses better and can describe your accomplishments in a proper manner as compared to someone who does not know you very well.

As part of your scholarship application, make sure that you provide information about yourself to the person who is going to write the letter of recommendation. Give them your resume, your writing samples and other documents that display your talents and abilities. Talk to the writer and discuss the kind of image you are intending to portray and which part of your personality should be emphasized. Another thing you can do in order to help the person in writing a letter of recommendation for your scholarship application is to provide a written description of the scholarship so that the writer knows what you are applying for. As mentioned before, clearly inform the writer of the deadline of your scholarship application.

Lastly, don’t forget to write a thank-you note to the person who has written the letter of recommendation for your scholarship application.

Transcript:
Often, scholarship applications require a transcript from all of the schools you have previously attended. You should request this information from all of your past educational institutions as soon as possible. Sometimes, schools charge fee to issue official transcripts. Once you have contacted your past schools and requested a transcript, call them after a couple of weeks and make sure that they have mailed the your transcript to the proper address. In case you are delivering the transcript yourself, then make sure that you let it remain sealed and do not tamper with it because it may make the transcript invalid and ruin one of the most important elements of your scholarship application.

Several scholarship committees require students to submit an essay along with their application. There are several purposes due to which the scholarship committees require an essay. One of the main reasons is that these scholarship committees want to see a sample of your writing, and that they want to get to know the applicant. Another purpose is to enable the applicants to share something about themselves that may not be reflected in the statistics and facts they have provided. The essay is also very important because it allows the applicants to express their individuality and gives the scholarship committees an opportunity to know them.

The only way students can improve their chances of being selected from a huge pool of applicants competing for scholarships is by writing a stellar personal essay as a part of their application.

The way you write your application essay distinguishes you from the other applicants. It provides information about you that your quantitative data cannot.

The application essay is a result of hard work, often requiring countless drafts and several weeks of writing and rewriting. There are many approaches to writing the essay. There are some people who can sit down for six hours before the deadline and come up with a good essay, while others have to work laboriously for months writing and rewriting before turning in the finished product.

A good essay will distinguish you from the other applicants. Reviewers looks for essays that are consistent and reflect your life experiences, commitment to education and personal characteristics. Sometimes a common experience can also be memorable and influential. You may also decide to write about your knowledge about a certain ethnic groups or about some hardships you overcame. Essays should show the depth of your accomplishment and the quality of your character. It does not depend on what experience you choose to write about as long as it is appropriate and you should elaborate on the insights you have gained from that experience and they way it has influenced your life.

The people on the scholarship committee will be looking for reasons why you would be a good candidate, and why should you be granted the scholarship. Therefore, to present yourself in the best possible light, you could start out by making your essay flawless and following all the standards and requirements.

Your essay should be typed, double spaced, and should preferably use a twelve-point font with a standard font such as Times New Roman, and the margins should be standard size. It is very much preferable if your essay length is within the given limit, but if it is longer make sure it is no longer than ten percent. Try to make your essay as clear and concise as possible. Avoid sloppiness and stylistic errors. Make sure your essay satisfies certain basic requirements; you should pay attention on answering the essay question. Answer the question directly and address all its parts. Your essay should be well organized, logical, written with flow and easy to follow. The tone should be appropriately serious, sincere and modestly confident.

The first step in writing the essay is brainstorming. It is the process of coming up with ideas spontaneously from free flowing writing or talking. To brainstorm, you can simply sit down with a pen and jot down every idea that comes into your head. Another approach is to simply start writing and see where you end up. Record as much information as you can recall, such as schools attended, courses taken, jobs held, research projects undertaken. After you have jotted down the most basic and raw information possible, work on taking yourself deeper into the introspection process by tackling more specific topics.

Once you have completed the brainstorming process, you’ll have a rough idea of what you actually want to wri
te about. So after that, you have to select the essay topic. When selecting a topic, you should keep in mind to choose a topic that allows you to demonstrate your skills and individuality, a topic that answers the essay question while telling the reviewers what they really want to know. While deciding on the topic of your application, keep in mind that you have to keep the reader interested while at the same time, revealing something about yourself in a way that makes you an ideal applicant.

After you have selected the essay topic, get down to actual writing. The key to a good essay is revising and re-revising. Revising is an integral part of essay writing and it is only after a great amount of revising that you can come up with an excellent essay. Once the revising is done and over with, you have your final draft before you. Be sure to avoid sloppiness and poor English. Also avoid biases against any religion, sexist comments, whining and politics. And of course, be sure to keep a printed copy of your final draft.

As mentioned before, some scholarships committees ask you to provide an activity sheet. An activity sheet is simply a list of all the clubs you have belonged to, all the sports you have played, all the hobbies you have, all the awards you have gotten, all the volunteer work or paid jobs you have done et cetera. Make sure that all of these things are stated clearly on your activity sheet, some committees ask you to list them down in a chronological order while others require you to list these activities down in order of importance. The purpose of the activity sheet is that the scholarship committees want to know how much time you devote to the other things in life and how important extra curricular activities are to you. You should list down all the things that hold importance to you even if they are not organized is proper clubs or committees. The scholarship committees want to know all about your activities.

Interview:
Some scholarship committees take interviews, usually as a part of the final selection process. This is because the scholarship committees want to meet you to make sure that you are a personification of all the values and activities and academics you have discussed in your application. You can use this interview as an opportunity to talk about your interests and your plans for future education. You should dress formally and arrive at least 15 minutes before the interview is scheduled. Do not let the interview make you nervous, just remember at all times that all the scholarship committee wants to do is try to get to know you better.

FACTORS CONSIDERED IN THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES:
There are many different scholarships and each scholarship has its own specified criteria. However, there are a few factors that are common in most scholarship applications. Those factors are listed below:
# Academic standing (class rank)
# Weighted GPA
# Standardized test scores
# Extra curricular activities
# Submitted essay
# Letters of recommendation
# Financial need
# Work experience
# School and community/civic participation
# Attendance record
# Potential for success
# Higher educational and vocational aspirations
# Written communication skills
# Character strengths (such as motivation, persistence, resourcefulness, etc.)
# Demonstrated skills, aptitudes or experience


As mentioned before, different scholarship committees look for different things. Some scholarship committees might consider your academic records and do not even ask you for your educational aspirations, while others might only consider your financial needs and not ask you for your work experience. Scholarship committees might sometimes only consider one or two of the factors listed above or sometimes, they might consider all of these factors.

FINAL WORD:
Most students seem to believe that the competition amongst people applying for scholarships is so fierce that it is only the most brilliant and outstanding students who are granted these scholarships. And due to this misconception, a lot of students fail to apply for scholarships. The truth is, that scholarships are not awarded to students who are brilliantly outstanding; it is true that some scholarships consider academic brilliance but there are a lot of scholarships that concentrate more on extra circular activities and special talents of students.

Apply to as many scholarships as you are eligible for, and make sure that you complete your application well before the deadline. Have your application proofread before you send it. Good luck!

Postgraduate Research in Chemistry - Herriot Watt University

Two Postgraduate Positions
Computational solid state chemistry

Project Supervisor: Prof. M Gutowski (m.gutowski@hw.ac.uk)
Application deadline: 31 July 2006
One position for a student who has been a resident in the UK for 3 years; one position for a student worldwide

You will develop and apply computational methods of chemistry, physics, and materials science to study chemical transformations in condensed phases. You will use and develop electronic structure methods for molecular and extended systems and you will develop mesoscale models based on the results of electronic structure calculations. Your work will be carried out as a part of a multidisciplinary team and your results will be tested against the results of experimental studies that will be performed in parallel.
The applications will be primarily in areas relevant to hydrogen economy (materials for hydrogen storage, catalysts).

You will receive an excellent training in modern computational methods including electronic structure and kinetic Monte Carlo. You will benefit from working in parallel with excellent experimental groups.

Maintenance payment will be at the standard EPSRC rate. Fees are covered at the UK Home / EU student level for the first position and are waived for the second position. Well motivated students with an Honours degree in Chemistry / Chemical Physics / Physics/Materials Science at 1st / upper 2nd class, or equivalent, are encouraged to
apply.

Doctoral Research Studentships-New Zealand

World Class Opportunity

New Zealand institutions provide the opportunity to study under
internationally recognised academics and researchers in a wide range
of disciplines. Qualifications attained from a New Zealand
university rank with the best internationally. New Zealand degrees
have a reputation globally for being practical, modern and
desirable. In some niche areas, such as biotechnology, forensic
science and marine engineering, New Zealand degrees are acknowledged
as world-leading. Students educated in the New Zealand education
environment are earning a reputation as a new breed of innovative
thinkers and are enjoying success the world over.

Entitlements under the New Zealand International Doctoral Research
Scholarships are as follows:

Full tuition fees for three (3) years of full-time doctoral study
NZ$18,000 per annum living allowance (NZ$1500 per month)
Up to NZ$600 per annum health insurance allowance
NZ$2000 (across 3 year tenure) travel allowance. This is intended to
be used for conference attendance and field research
NZ$800 (across 3 year tenure) book and thesis allowance
NZ$500 One-off establishment allowance. Only to be paid to those
students who are travelling to NZ specifically to take up the
NZIDRS. No student already located in NZ is eligible to receive this
amount Additional funds are not available to support accompanying
dependants

Please note :

The New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships (NZIDRS) are open to all International Students meeting the eligibility criteria.

Prospective candidates are advised to start corresponding with academics in the relevant departments of New Zealand universities regarding the availability of appropriate supervision well in advance of submitting their application papers. Evidence that supervision is available is required as a part of the NZIDRS application process. Please see the 'NZIDRS Terms & Conditions' for further information.

---------------------------------------------------------------
NZIDRS Applications will be accepted until 5pm on Monday the 17th of
July 2006 (NZ Time).
No applications will be considered by the Selection Panel if they
arrive after the stated close date.

NZIDRS Terms and conditions

NZIDRS Application Form 2006

NZIDRS Frequently Asked Questions 2006

http://www.newzealandeducated.com/scholarships