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OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS / UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD SCHOLARSHIPS 2011-2012

The Institute for the Development of Education, Zagreb welcomes applications from citizens of Croatia for Open Society Foundations / University of Oxford Scholarships 2011-12, which are jointly funded by the Open Society Foundations-London and the University of Oxford.

Scholarship details
The scholarships are intended to provide opportunities for postgraduate study in selected fields at the University of Oxford for applicants who demonstrate both academic excellence and the potential to become leaders, decision makers and opinion formers in their home countries. The scholarships cover tuition and college fees, travel to and from the UK, and basic living expenses for a single person. Upon completion of the scholarship, scholars are expected to return to their home countries to continue their studies/work there.

Eligible Courses

• Selected one year taught Masters courses within the University of Oxford’s Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions are eligible for the scholarship. Please consult the Notes for Applicants (attached below) for full list of eligible courses included in this scholarship scheme.

Eligibility Requirements

• Any scholarship awards are conditional upon you being offered a place to study at Oxford, and meeting all the conditions of that offer (e.g. obtaining the required score in English language proficiency).
• Applicants will be required to have passed an English proficiency test before being offered a Scholarship. However, they are not required to have taken the exam at the time of applying. The minimum requirement for study on the eligible courses at Oxford is IELTS 7.5 (with minimum 7.0 in each component) or TOEFL - 630 (minimum Test of Written English score - 5) or Computer based TOEFL - 267 (minimum essay writing score - 5) or Internet based TOEFL – 109 or Cambridge Certificate of proficiency in English - B
• All applicants must have completed at least three years of BA course (in the Bologna system) or four years of university study and have obtained, or expect to obtain, the appropriate degree(s) not later than September 2011.
• Applicants must be citizens of and resident in one of the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia. Applicants who are temporarily out of the country (for a total period of less than three consecutive months) may be treated as being resident.
• Applicants should be planning to return to their home country at the end of the period of study.
• Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously studied in Western universities.
• Applicants should have a proven track record of success or excellence in their professional life distinguishing them from their peers and contemporaries and clear commitment to open society goals.

Employees, employees’ relatives (or former employees who have left employment less than two years before) of the Educational Advising Centers or local Open Society Foundations representations directly involved in the Open Society Foundations Scholarship Programs administration in the region and the participating universities will not be eligible to apply for these awards.

Please note that if you have applied, or are applying, for other grants, fellowships or scholarships with the Open Society Foundations you should alert us to this in your application.  While you may apply under more than one scheme simultaneously, you can be awarded only one Open Society Foundations scholarship or grant for a given period.

Please note that all successful applicants will be expected to attend a 1-month preparatory academic writing summer school in August 2011. The exact date and location of the summer school will be available at a later stage of the selection process.

Application Process and Deadlines
Applicants are requested to submit Application Form for Graduate Study 2011-12 (and all required supporting materials) together with the Scholarship Supporting Statement for University of Oxford Masters Applicants and Eligibility Requirements Self Assessment Form to the Institute for the Development of Education by 12 January 2011 at 5 P.M. Scholarship applications must be received by the Institute for the Development of Education NO LATER THAN THIS DATE AND TIME.

Institute for the Development of Education will assist you by arranging for your application to be sent to Oxford, and will also arrange for payment of the £50 application fee.

Applicants shall check the requirements for individual courses as additional supporting materials such as written work might be required. Scholars can consult the University’s Graduate Studies Prospectus, which is available online at the link to the website. 

Scholars wishing to submit applications for further courses must apply to the University directly. Scholars applying online or directly to the University will not be considered for the Open Society Foundations/ Oxford Scholarships.

Selection process
It is expected that interviews of short-listed candidates will be held in April 2011; precise dates will be announced nearer the time. Institute for the Development of Education will arrange English language tests for short-listed candidates after the interviews in April/May, if applicants have not already successfully taken a test in the 2 years prior to the interview. Final decisions on the award of scholarships will normally be made by the beginning of June.

Please note that the staff at your local representative office is not involved in the decision-making process. They will tell you as soon as they can whether or not you have been successful. Please understand they will not be able to inform you until they have been told by the University of Oxford and OSF-London.

Additional notes 
All applicants must return a total of 2 copies of all relevant application materials (1 original and 1 photocopy) to the Institute for the Development of Education by the set deadline.

While an Application Fee is included in this year’s application forms for Oxford, all candidates who return their application forms by the aforementioned deadline to the Institute for the Development of Education are NOT required to pay the application fee, which will be covered by OSI. The application fee field in the application form can therefore be left empty.

Applicants should select the “Open Society Foundations Oxford Scholarships” box in Section M of the Application Form for Graduate Study 2011-2012.

According to the Application Form for Graduate Studies, scholars must provide their referees with Referee Report Form for Graduate Study (attached below). Please note that the Referee Report Form is not a reference itself. The form requires nominated referees to rank the candidates and then provide an additional signed letter on institutional paper describing applicant’s academic ability and general suitability for their proposed programme of study

Contact Information
For further details and an application, applicants from Croatia should contact the local OSF scholarships administration centre at the following address:

Institute for the Development of Education
(Institut za razvoj obrazovanja)
Preradovićeva 33/I, 10000 Zagreb
Tel: +385 1 4817195; +385 1 4555151
E-mail: sdobric@iro.hr

Materials

Application Form for Graduate Study 2011-12 (126 kb)
Open Society Foundations Oxford Masters Supporting Statement 1112 (9 kb)
OSF Oxford Guidance Notes for Applicants (161 kb)
Reference Form for Graduate Study (37 kb)
Self Assessment Oxford 2011-2012 (32 kb)