IRO Doctoral Scholarship Programme for Developing Countries

Catholic
University of Leuven (KU Leuven) annually invites applications
for IRO doctoral scholarship programme available for students from Developing
Countries. The applicant must be a citizen of one of the countries on the OCDE DAC table that are
considered as: Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries or Low Middle
Income Countries.

As
one of its contributions to development cooperation, KU Leuven offers
scholarships every academic year to exceptional students from developing
countries to course their PhD in the largest university of Flanders, Belgium.
The programme is organised and managed by IRO, the University’s

The
programme is organised and managed by IRO, the University’s Interfaculty
Council for Development Cooperation. This programme is intended for the student
to do his or her whole research at KU Leuven; therefore, any other type of
agreement (e.g. Sandwich programmes, etc) are not envisioned.

The
candidate must hold an academic qualification at least equivalent to a high
distinction. Degrees obtained with a final score equivalent to second class
second/lower division will not be taken into consideration.

Course
Level:
Scholarships are available for pursuing Ph.D program at KU Leuven.

Study
Subject(s): Applicants
for the IRO Doctoral Scholarship Programme may choose a research topic proposed
by one of the KU Leuven Doctoral Schools: Humanities and Social Sciences,
Science, Engineering and Technology Biomedical Sciences or applicants may
propose their own research topic.

Scholarship
Award:
The doctoral scholarship is subject to partial or full social security
depending on the country of origin. Please refer to page 36 of the brochure
Travelling to Leuven.

Does
not apply for people with a long term EEA residence permit or nationality.
The
IRO Doctoral Scholarship does not include financing for mobility within
the framework of the PhD. Nonetheless, the Interfaculty Council for
Development Co-operation offers mobility grants for PhD candidates and
their (co)promoters; these grants are organized on a competitive basis.

Scholarship
can be taken in Belgium

Eligibility:

The
applicant must be a citizen of one of the countries on the OCDE DAC
table that are considered as: Least Developed Countries, Low Income
Countries or Low Middle Income Countries.
The
applicant may not possess a citizenship from an EU country. The applicant
may not posses a long-term EU residence permit.
The
candidate’s latest master’s degree must have been awarded no more than ten
years prior to October 1st, 2018 (including the ongoing calendar year).
The
candidate must hold an academic qualification at least equivalent to a
high distinction. Degrees obtained with a final score equivalent to second
class second/lower division will not be taken into consideration.
The
research project must have excellent academic quality, with a special
focus on the development relevance of the proposal.
The
vacancies that are published on the KU Leuven website are already funded
and thus, cannot participate for this scholarship.
The
candidate must demonstrate a development-oriented motivation.
The
candidate must be supported by a KU Leuven promoter.
The
candidate must be supported by a local co-promoter at the
candidate’s home country or where most of the research will be
carried out and which must be one of the countries on the OCDE
DAC table that are considered as: Least Developed Countries, Low
Income Countries or Low Middle Income Countries.
The
candidate must be supported by excellent recommendations from relevant
referees.
The
candidate must follow the application procedure and
complete his file before November 13th 2017. Please make sure to
fill up the application form with the following instructions:

First
name and last name exactly as written on the passport.
Status: Doctoral
Programme (diploma contract) or Predoctoral programme.
Academic
year: If you apply between September and October 2017, you must select
2017-2018; we will change this manually once the call for applications
for 2018-2019 opens. Starting from November 2017, you must select
2018-2019.
Is
this application also intended as a scholarship application? Yes.
Name
of the scholarship agency: IRO Doctoral Scholarship

Please
do not submit your application unless it fulfills the conditions enlisted
above. Incomplete or late applications will not be taken into consideration
without exception.

Nationality: Students from one
of the countries on the OECD DAC table that are listed under the following
categories: Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries or Low Middle
Income Countries can apply for this IRO Doctoral Scholarship Programme.

List
of Countries: Afghanistan, Kenya, Armenia, Angola, Korea, Dem. Rep., Belize,
Bangladesh, Kyrgyz Rep., Bolivia, Benin, Tajikistan, Cameroon, Bhutan,
Zimbabwe, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Congo, Rep., Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire,
Cambodia, Egypt, Central African Rep., El Salvador, Chad, Fiji, Comoros, Georgia,
Congo, Dem. Rep., Ghana, Djibouti, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana,
Eritrea, Honduras, Ethiopia, India, Cuba, Gambia, Indonesia, Guinea, Iraq,
Guinea-Bissau, Kosovo1, Haiti, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Micronesia,
Federated States, Laos, Moldova, Lesotho, Mongolia, Liberia, Morocco,
Madagascar, Nicaragua, Malawi, Nigeria, Mali, Pakistan, Mauritania, Papua New
Guinea, Mozambique, Paraguay, Myanmar, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Niger,
Swaziland, Rwanda, Syria, Samoa, Tokelau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Tonga,
Senegal, Turkmenistan, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Solomon Islands, Uzbekistan,
Somalia, Vietnam, South Sudan, West Bank and Gaza Strip, Sudan, Tanzania,
Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen and Zambia

College
Admission Requirement

Entrance
Requirement: The
candidate must hold an academic qualification at least equivalent to a high
distinction. Degrees obtained with a final score equivalent to second class
second/lower division will not be taken into consideration.

Test
Requirement:
No

English
Language Requirements:

Applicants
need to provide an official proof of English proficiency, the only
accepted certificates are:

IELTS:
Academic
TOEFL:
iBT, computer-based or paper-based
TOEFL
ITP is not accepted
Cambridge:
CAE or CPE
FCE
is not accepted

Applicants
can find more information about the English proficiency certificates here.

How
to Apply: Applications
may be submitted via online or post.

It
is the sole responsibility of every candidate to complete their online
application file.

Follow
accurately the online application instructions. you must pay special
attention to the following conditions:

Before
submitting the online application form, make sure to have the following
fields correctly filled in:

Your
first name and last name must be written EXACTLY as they appear on your
passport.
The
status must be either “Doctoral programme (diploma contract)” or
“Predoctoral programme”.
If
the application is submitted between September and October 2017, the
academic year must be 2017 – 2018; starting from November 2017, the
academic year must be 2018 – 2019.
The
answer for the question “Is this application also intended as a
scholarship application?” is “Yes”.
The
name of the scholarship agency is “IRO Doctoral Scholarship”.

Make
sure to upload all the core documents. Please follow the instructions
about uploading PDF documents and pay special attention to the following
guidelines:

The
bachelor’s degree diploma must be saved as IROdiplomaB_your last
name.

If
you have more than one diploma, it should be clearly indicated
(i.e. IROdiplomaB1_your last name)

The
bachelor’s degree transcript must be saved as IROtranscriptB_your
last name.

If
you have more than one transcript, it should be clearly indicated (i.e. IROtranscriptB1_your
last name)

The
master’s degree diploma must be saved as IROdiplomaM_your last name.

If
you have more than one diploma, it should be clearly indicated
(i.e. IROdiplomaM1_your last name)

The
master’s degree transcript must be saved as IROtranscriptM_your last
name.

If
you have more than one transcript, it should be clearly indicated
(i.e. transcriptM1_your last name)

The English
proficiency certificate must be saved as IROenglish_your last
name.

ONLY
the certificates enlisted here can be accepted.

The
scanned copy of your passport must be saved as IROpassport_your last
name.
The thesis
proposal must be saved as IROproposal_your last name. The
document must include the electronic signature of the KU Leuven promoter
and the original signatures of the applicant and local co-promoter. Only
the official IRO format must be used.
Your
CV must be saved as IROcv_your last name.
The motivation
letter must be saved as IROmotivation_your last name. The
document must include the electronic signature of the KU Leuven promoter
and the original signatures of the applicant and local co-promoter. Only
the official IRO format must be used.

Additionally
you must upload the following:

The
CV of your local co-promoter; it must be saved
as IROlocalcopromoter_your last name.

Only
if you are currently living in one of the EU or EEA countries,
you must upload your residence permit and save it
as IROrespermit_your last name.
Only
if you are applying for a doctoral programme in either economics or
applied economics, a GMAT or GRE score (for a GMAT score,
please contact GMAC[code JQH7X51] and arrange for an original score
card to be sent directly to the Admissions Office by ETS or GMAC, respectively, before
November 13th 2017.
Please
note that the system only accepts one application form per faculty. Even
though your research topic may be different and your prospective promoter
may be different within the same faculty, you still can submit only one
application for the first research topic and promoter, and you will have
to send an email to irocandidates-at-kuleuven.be with
your guest account number on the subject of the email to inform that you
want to apply for a second topic with a different promoter within the same
faculty.Submission of physical documents:It is the sole
responsibility of every candidate to submit all the requested documents.

It is strongly
recommended to send your documents with a courier service as they can be
tracked and therefore, their arrival can be acknowledge by you. Due to the
large volume of application documents, reception of them cannot be confirmed.

Every package must
include your guest account number on the envelope.

Your
IRO research proposal signed by you (original signature), your local
co-promoter (original signature) and your KU Leuven promoter
(electronic signature).

Applicants
who are already enrolled in a doctoral programme at KU Leuven will only
need to prepare a detailed progress report as defined by their Doctoral
School. The report must be signed by the KU Leuven promoter and the
members of the doctoral student’s examination committee.

Your
IRO motivation letter signed by you (original signature), your local
co-promoter (original signature) and your KU Leuven promoter
(electronic signature).
Certified copies of
your diplomas and transcripts of records.
Two recommendation letters by relevant
referees; only the official IRO format must be used; neither your local
co-promoter nor your KU Leuven promoter can provide such letters; both
letters must be sent in sealed envelopes by your referees before November
13th, 2017