Scholarships in Belgium
Scholarships
General situation in terms of scholarships
In terms of scholarships offered, Belgium applies equal focus on the performance of its own students as well as international students from developed and developing countries. It offers a wide range of government and institutional scholarships and grants while also recognizing the value of training to developing countries in addressing poverty.
Type of scholarships and granting institution
Scholarships and fellowships in Belgium are offered by government, universities, corporations and non-profit organizations. Even though scholarships are also offered for undergraduate studies, most of the public and private organizations that offer scholarships do so mainly to fund post graduate teaching and research work in many different fields of study. All these excellent financial aid opportunities are made available to both local and international students to study a plethora of academic subjects within the premises of some of the best universities in the world.
Government scholarships
The government of Belgium is well at the forefront in making scholarships available for aspiring academic students. The range and value of scholarships it offers to many students locally and from other countries, including EU students, is quite impressive. Nevertheless, they do offer very stringent conditions for admission.
The main types of government scholarships offered to students for studying in Belgium comprise the fields of political science, agriculture, information technology, the intricate field of psychology, the highly specialized field of chemical engineering and mathematics. In funding these studies the government chooses the best universities available that offer excellent courses for each doctorate level of study.
University scholarships
While most of the scholarships offered by government are of general application, those offered by the universities tend to be more specific orientated as they cover a specific field of study mainly at the postgraduate levels. The field covered by scholarships offered by universities is so vast it is very difficult to make meaningful distinctions. Nevertheless the main university scholarships deal with applied mathematics, pig feed fattening, medical science, toxicity, plasma wave interaction, numerical methods, chemistry, plants and vegetation ecology, process analytics, optical microscopy, treatment of brain symptoms and cognitive neuroscience.
Corporate scholarships
Most of corporate entities will often give out scholarships to specific needs, mainly for filling up positions that are needed within the organization itself. Depending on the type of organization involved such scholarships will often immerse incumbents in an enormous field of company orientated needs for promoting efficiency and competitive edge. They offer scholarships in fields such as comparative analysis, data analysis, electronics, diamond-power devices, operations management and many other fields of study.
Non-profit organizations
Similar to corporate entities, these bodies also give out scholarships according to needs which, in their case, are far and wide. One notable non-profit organization that grants scholarships to aspiring students is the FWO-project Church Triumphant which has taken on the task of restoring the Catholic landscape in the Habsburg Netherlands.
Availability and conditions for getting a scholarship
In Belgium scholarships are readily available from the government and from the universities. The most active and well-known scholarships are those offered by the VLIR-UOS that offers scholarships to nationals of Africa, Asia and Latin America. It sets out very comprehensive conditions for eligibility to scholarships.
Academic admissibility criteria – this consists of information on an applicant’s educational background, language proficiency and so on.
Scholarship eligibility criteria – to qualify, an applicant must be a national of listed countries (Africa, Asia or Latin America), less than 40 to 45 years of age at the time of applying and not to have previously enrolled in a master programme at a Flemish university.
Scholarship selection criteria – to qualify, an applicant must show motivation, experience, new applicant, preferably female, come from Sub-Sahara Africa and belong to a disadvantaged group.
Local scholarships for foreign students
In addition to its impressive number of scholarships for students from developed countries, Belgium also offers an equally impressive number of scholarships geared towards the needs of developing countries especially in their aspirations in eliminating poverty. In particular they target the needs of peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Typical scholarships in Belgium
The main types of scholarships available in Belgium are government scholarships and those offered by university institution for Bachelors, Masters, PhDs, and Post Doctorate degrees for students from developed and developing countries