2016-2017

The VU Fellowship
Programme (VUFP) offers talented prospective international students the unique
opportunity to pursue a Master’s degree Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Vrije
Uni
versiteit Amsterdam has committed to providing approximately 1 million euro
towards attracting highly motivated and excellent students.

All VUFP
applications received by 1 February will be reviewed by the faculty at which
the applicant will be participating in a Master’s programme. Faculties then
nominate applicants to the central scholarship committee, which then awards
scholarships to the most talented students. The award is based on the
motivation letter, the quality of previous education and the student’s academic
performance therein. A scholarship offer will then be made to successful
candidates.

Eligible
candidates

The VU Fellowship
Programme (VUFP) is a Merit scholarship programme for strongly motivated
students with excellent study results. Eligible candidates must be able to
prove their academic excellence, and they must be admitted to an English taught
Master’s degree at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Students with the Dutch
nationality and/or a Dutch degree (given that the Dutch degree is used for
admission) are not eligible for admission. Students following a one-year
Master’s programme may not apply for the VUFP scholarship for a second year.
Students already enrolled in a two-year Master’s programme who have not been awarded
the VUFP scholarship in 2015/2016 are not eligible to apply for the VUFP
scholarship 2016/2017. Only if a student was granted a scholarship from the
beginning, then the scholarship can be extended if he/she achieved 80% of the
credits. The Faculty VUFP committee will be asked to demonstrate to the Central
VUFP committee that these credits have indeed been achieved.

Scholarships
amounts

The VUFP scholarship
is a tuition fee waiver. VUFP scholarship does not provide any additional
allowance towards study or living costs.

Application
procedure

1. Register for
Master’s programme     

Students register
for a Master’s programme in Studielink and after that in the VUnet
portal. Here you can find more information on how to apply for
one of our English taught Master’s programmes. Please note that you must have
applied for the Master programme before you can apply for the VUFP scholarship.

Deadline: 1
February 2016.

2. Submit
VUFP application

Submit your VUFP application 
in VUnet. 
Deadline: 1
February 2016

For VUFP application
3 documents are required:

            A. Proof of excellence/ GPA
Students who apply for a VU Fellowship Programme need to have a GPA of at least 80% of the highest
possible mark (calculated over full previous degree). For
example, if the highest possible mark is a 10, you need to have an average of
at least an 8.
Excellence in previous education is proven if the grade point average achieved
is at least
the equivalent of the Dutch grade of an 8.0 on the Dutch
grading scale 1 – 10. The VUFP  Scholarship Committee will decide on the
local grade equivalents for the Dutch grade of an 8.0 using the grade
information included in the NUFFIC country modules.

           B. Motivation Letter
We would like to know your motivation for the VU Fellowship Programme. Why do
you think you deserve to receive a VUFP scholarship?
Topics that are reviewed in the motivation letter are the following:

• Why do you want to
study this specific programme?
• What are your future perspectives?
• Why do you deserve the VUFP scholarship?

Do not hesitate to
mention other motivations as well, we like own initiative!

           C. Curriculum
Vitae (CV)
We strongly recommend the use of the Europass format.

3. Decision

The Central VUFP
Committee decides which students will be offered a VUFP scholarship. The
Committee makes a merit based selection.

4. Results

All students will
receive an e-mail/ notification informing them of the Central
scholarships  Committee’s decision concerning their application.
Expected date: 14
March 2016 (6 weeks after the deadline).

5.
Acceptance of VUFP offer

Selected
candidates  accept/ decline the VUFP offer in VUnet.
Deadline: 1
April 2016 (2 weeks after the results are published).
Conditions
VUFP scholarship

Current
VUFP scholars

VUFP scholars following
a two year Master’s programme do not need to re-apply for the VUFP scholarship
for the second year. The VUFP scholar will be nominated for a second year
provided that he or she has obtained at least 80% of all ECTS. VUFP candidates
will receive an e-mail from the Central scholarships committee on or around the
1 July 2016 a confirming the extension of the VUFP scholarship. Students who
have not achieved sufficient study results will be informed that they will not
be offered the VUFP scholarship for the next academic year, unless there are
clear reasons why the results were lower than average.

Complaint
procedure

An interested party
that does not agree with the decision of the scholarship committee, may file a
written complaint to VUFP@vu.nl. Complaints regarding the application
procedure (not the results!) should be addressed to the student ombudsman by e-mail and
must include:

• Your name and
full address.
• Details of the selection procedure that you do not agree with.
• The grounds for complaint: why are you unable to accept the selection
procedure?
• Date and signature.