Belgium Government ARES Scholarships for Developing Countries 2024
About
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 2024-2025 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: 200
- Nationality: Students of Developing Countries
Eligibility Criteria
For a request to be valid, the applicant must:
- To be eligible, applicants must be residing and working in their country of origin when they apply;
- Be national, reside and work in one of the following countries: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Guinea (Conakry), Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
- Hold a diploma comparable to a graduate level degree (300 credits ECTS) from Belgian university studies for advanced masters and countinuing education courses (equivalent to Bac+5); Hold a diploma comparable to a undergraduate level degree (180 credits ECTS) for advanced bachelors (equivalent to Bac+3). The candidate must have held the relevant academic degree for a maximum of 20 years at the time of the start of the course. This maximum period is increased by one year by childbirth and/or adoption.
- Possess relevant professional experience in a ARES partner country of at least two years after graduate studies for advanced bachelors, after postgraduate studies for advanced masters and countinuing education courses.
- Complete the application in the language in which the training is given and can attest a good written and spoken knowledge of it. Moreover, knowing a minimum of French allows for a good integration into daily life in Belgium.
- Apply for only one training course
Scholarship Benefits
Information on the funding breakdown is given in the table (below)
Bachelor’s or Master’s 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 | Lump sum | For a duration of 12 months |
| Indirect mission fees | Lump sum | This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee. |
| Arrival allowance, tuition and return fees | Flat rate | 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. |
Amount for a Continuing education scholarship
| International travel costs | Receipts must be provided | Economy-class travel on an IATA-approved airline, one round-trip ticket. |
| Living allowance | Lump sum | For the duration of the course |
| Indirect mission fees | Lump sum | This amount is given once per stay, upon arrival of the grantee. |
| Insurance costs | 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
How-to-Apply: Interested applicants for the for the Belgium Government Masters and Training Programmes (ARES) Scholarships 2024-2025 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: 17 November 2023
