Are you a national of a developing country? Do you already hold a master’s degree? The opportunity to study in Belgium and further develop your skills for the development of your country is now open. The call for applications for Belgium Government Masters and Training Programmes (ARES) Scholarships for the academic year 2021-2022 is now open.
Scholarships for masters and training courses offer you the chance to pursue a one-year specialised master’s degree programme or a 4-to-6-month advanced training course within a higher education institution of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Belgium.
Scholarship Sponsor(s): Belgium Government
Scholarship to be taken at: Higher education institutions in Belgium
Scholarship Type: Full Scholarships
Scholarship level: Postgraduate
Scholarship Slots: Not stated.
Subject Eligibility: Masters Courses and Short Training Courses
Country/Candidate Eligibility: Students of Developing Countries
Eligibility Criteria:
For a request to be valid, the applicant must:
- Be a citizen of a developing country. To be eligible, applicants must be residing and working in their country of origin when they apply;
- Only nationals of the following countries may apply for grants from ARES: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ecuador, Ethiopia (only for training courses in English), Haiti, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Peru, the Philippines, the DR Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, and Vietnam;
- Be under the age of 40 for degree programs, and under 45 for training courses, at the time the training is scheduled to begin;
- Have earned a diploma comparable to a graduate-level diploma from Belgian university studies. Nevertheless, for certain training courses, different requirements may be requested, which will be specified below;
- Possess relevant professional experience in a developing country of at least two years after graduate studies, or of three years after their studies if the applicant has earned a post-grad degree from a university in an industrialized country;
- Have good mastery of written and spoken French. For training courses held in another language, it is essential to have a proper level in the course’s language, both written and spoken. We shall insist that the applicant commit to learning French in order to take part in daily life in Belgium;
- Apply for only one training course.
Applicants need to get complete eligibility details at the official information page provided (below)
Scholarship Benefits:
Information on the funding breakdown is given in the table (below)
Masters Scholarship Benefits
| International travel costs | Receipts must be provided | Economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, with a maximum of one round-trip ticket per academic year. |
| Living allowance | Flat rate | 1150 €/month for a duration of 12 months. |
| Indirect mission fees | Flat rate | 150 €. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee. |
| Arrival allowance, tuition and return fees | Flat rate | 700 €. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee. |
| Registration fees | At the current rate for DGD grantees. | |
| Insurance fees | Directly paid by ARES. | |
| Travel costs that are part of inter-university training | Receipts must be provided | Reimbursed based on real costs incurred, with receipts provided. |
Training Course Grants
| International travel costs | Receipts must be provided | Economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, one round-trip ticket. |
| Living allowance | Flat rate | 83 €/day for stays lasting 8 to 17 days 1400 €/month for stays lasting 18 days to 1 month (set amount) 1400 €/month for stays lasting 1 to 6 months, prorated to the number of days |
| Indirect mission fees | Flat rate | 150 €. This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee. |
| Insurance fees | Directly paid by ARES. | |
| Travel expenses in the framework of inter university trainings | Receipts must be provided | Reimbursed based on the real incurred, with receipts provided. |
Application Procedures for the Belgium Government Masters and Training Programmes (ARES) Scholarships
How-to-Apply:
The applications for Belgium Government (ARES) Scholarships for Developing Countries 2021 – 2022 is done totally online. Applying for an ARES grant is totally free. ARES does not charge fees at any stage of the application or selection process. Interested applicants should follow the steps (below) to apply.
Please note that the application procedure is now online via the GIRAF platform.
- First, you need to create a GIRAF account by clicking here. Your account will be validated (within a few hours to a few days) and you will receive a confirmation mail.
- Once your account has been validated, you can access the application form via the Competitive calls tab of your GIRAF profile. Please note that you only have to click once on the “Start an application for masters and training programmes” button in GIRAF. You will then find your application form in the My tasks table of the Competitive calls
- You can complete your form in several times, as long as you use the “Save and edit later” option. You will find your form each time in the My Tasks table of the Competitive calls tab in GIRAF.
- As soon as you click on “Submit my application”, your file is transmitted to ARES and you can no longer modify it. You can still consult it in the My Submitted Files
Application files will not be considered if they (are):
- incomplete;
- sent in by post, e-mail or fax. The procedure now takes place entirely online via GIRAF;
- submitted via GIRAF outside of the application period;
- are not completed in the language in which the training course is given;
- do not follow one of the admissibility criteria that are clearly stated on the form (certified copy of diploma, age, professional experience, etc.).
Application Deadline:
- Applications must be submitted via GIRAF by 5 February 2021 at the latest.
- Please note that applications for the training internships must be submitted via GIRAF by 15 January 2021 at the latest:
Visit the Official Website for Further Details
