DAAD / NRF In-Country Scholarships in South Africa for Masters and Doctoral Students

DAAD / NRF In-Country Scholarships

Course(s) Offered: Sciences, Technology, Social sciences, Engineering
Course Level: Graduate (masters, phd)
Provider: DAAD, NRF
Country to Study in: South Africa

Scholarship Description
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in partnership with the National Research Foundation (NRF) is able to offer scholarships for postgraduate studies at South African universities.

These DAAD / NRF In-Country Scholarships are a part of the “In-Country Scholarship Programme” in which more than two dozen African universities and university networks participate and which annually supports some 800 African postgraduates.

The scholarship is aimed at university staff development in the first instance, without neglecting other sector demands for academically trained personnel.

Eligibility
Eligibility criteria include:

• Applicants must be South African citizens or hold permanent residence status in South Africa (in the latter case, both certified proof of university employment and residency must be provided). Applicants from third countries are eligible only for PhD programmes and under the condition that they are employed at the university where the PhD is to be pursued.
• Applicants must have obtained an accumulative grade average of 65% and above to be considered.
• Female candidates and those belonging to historically disadvantaged groups are particularly encouraged to apply.
• An age limit of 36 years at the time of application applies.
• Applicants may come from all those fields of study that have a strong relevance to the national development of the country. Fields include: the natural sciences, mathematics, ICT, engineering, agricultural sciences, applied social sciences. Humanities and fine arts are excluded from this programme. However, Humanities applications may be considered if the research has a social focus.
• Applicants who already hold a qualification for the level of funding they are applying for are not eligible.
• Scholarships-holders are allowed to hold supplementary bursaries, grants or emoluments which may be capped in line with university policies.
• The scholarship may not be held simultaneously with a bursary/scholarship from any other NRF source, NRF administered source or other government sources without prior NRF/ DAAD permission.
• If the applicant does receive supplementary funding during the duration of the scholarship, this has to be declared to the NRF/ DAAD.
• Scholarship-holders may not hold full-time salaried employment during the duration of the scholarship. They will be allowed to undertake a maximum of 12 hours of teaching, tutorials, assistance or demonstration duties per week on average.
• University staff member applying into the programme will have to provide a supporting letter from their human resource department clearly indicating their working hours and status of employment during the tenure of the award.

Eligible groups
Citizens of South Africa and third countries.

Target Group are young and rising candidates who aim at acquiring a master’s or doctoral degree. Preference will be given to full-time registered young South Africans and permanent residents. University staff-members studying towards a doctoral qualification will also be considered. Staff members should be enrolled for full-time studies and be exempted from teaching. In exceptional cases, a limited extent of teaching obligations may be accepted but has to be motivated in writing.

Participating Institution(s)
All accredited South African universities

Fields of study
Masters and doctoral study in the natural sciences, mathematics, ICT, engineering, agricultural sciences, applied social sciences

Number of Awards
Up to 100 scholarships (new awards) are offered for Master’s and Doctoral studies

Sponsorship duration
The scholarships are designed for full-time two-year Master’s courses or three-year doctoral degree studies. Note that initial award is for one year only. For extensions of the award an annual progress report will have to be completed by the supervisor of the proposed research and submitted to the NRF via the university financial aid/ post graduate/ research office.

Scholarship benefits
Scholarship values are ZAR 60,000.00 p.a. (for Master’s courses) and ZAR 90,000.00 p.a. (for PhD degree studies).

Short-term research scholarships (2 - 6 months) tenable at a German university:
In selected cases, the scholarship-holder may apply for a short-term research fellowship (duration 2-6 months) in Germany where parts of the thesis-related research would significantly gain from this research visit because of required equipment, co-supervision or similar reasons.

The applicant will have to present a current invitation by a German professor who is willing to supervise the research during the envisaged stay in Germany, besides a convincing letter of motivation and a clearly defined time schedule for the research stay.

Application forms for these short-term research fellowships and further information can be obtained from:
http://ic.daad.de/johannesburg/scholarships.htm

Method of Application
Applications must be submitted through an online application process of the NRF. Applicants can apply for the DAAD/NRF Joint In-Country Scholarship Programme by accessing the link: https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za/. All required documents must be attached as one PDF file in the following order: Identity document, proof of permanent residence and university employment letter (if applicable), certified university degree certificates and transcripts, recommendation by supervisor (compulsory for doctoral applicants) letter of admission (if available) and any reference letters (if available).

It is important to visit the official website (link to it is below) for complete information on how to apply for this scholarship.

DEADLINES:
Applications open Thursday, 20 August, 2015 and close Wednesday, 16 September, 2015. No late submissions of applications will be considered.

PLEASE NOTE:
Applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be considered (please refer to funding manual and call document for details on eligibility of the DAAD-NRF In-Country Scholarship programmes). Complete applications will go to the host university for verification before being forwarded to the NRF for further processing. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The programme is co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the National Research Foundation (NRF).

Please contact the university postgraduate office or research office if you have any queries.

Application Deadline: 16 September 2015
Open for International Students: Yes

More Scholarship Information and Application

Related: List of Scholarships in South Africa for Students