Within the framework of the Belgian policy for development cooperation, the Minister for Development Cooperation and the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation entrust the Belgian Higher Education Institutions with the preparation of Postgraduate Programmes (Specialized Masters) and Training Programmes that are specifically oriented towards young professionals from developing countries.
International Courses and Training Programmes are part of the global study programmes of the Higher Education Institutions. They are open to all students who satisfy the conditions of qualification, but aim at proposing training units that distinguish themselves by their openness towards specific development issues.
Within the programme for International Courses and Training Programmes 2016-2017, ARES grants 130 scholarshipsfor participation into the masters and 67 scholarships for participation into the training programmes.
You will find on this site a list of international Courses and Training programmes for which there is a possibility of scholarship and, for information purposes, the modalities of introduction of an application as well as the rules of selection in force within the 2016-2017 programme.
Applying for a ARES scholarship is absolutely free of charge. ARES does not charge any fee at any stage of the application or selection process. You may raise any question or concern about persons or companies claiming to be acting on behalf of ARES and requesting the payment of a fee by emailing us at [email protected]
Any application containing cash will be automatically rejected.
Rules of selection
- Mis à jour le lundi 5 octobre 2015 21:18
Applying for a ARES scholarship is absolutely free of charge. ARES does not charge any fee at any stage of the application or selection process. You may raise any question or concern about persons or companies claiming to be acting on behalf of ARES and requesting the payment of a fee by emailing us at [email protected].
Any application containing cash will be automatically rejected.
The following criteria will apply for the selection of holders of scholarships:
- Only applicants originating in developing countries, qualify for selection. To be eligible, candidates must reside and work in their country at the time of the introduction of the file.
- Only the nationals of the following countries are authorized to postulate with our scholarships: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cuba, Ecuador, Haïti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Peru, Philippines, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Vietnam.
- At the beginning of the programme, candidates must be less than 40 years old for courses, and less than 45 years old for training programmes.
- Candidates must be holders of a degree that is comparable to a Belgian University graduate degree (“licence”). However, for certain programmes different rules of admissibility may be defined, and these are specified hereafter, where appropriate.
- Candidates must show professional experience of at least two years upon termination of their studies. Where candidates are holders of a postgraduate degree delivered by an university of an industrial country, they must show professional experience of at least three years upon termination of their studies.
- Candidates must have a good knowledge of written and spoken French; for programmes organised in another language, good knowledge, in writing and speaking, of this language, is required. Moreover, the candidate will be asked to commit himself to study French in order to be able to participate in daily life in Belgium.
- Candidates are not allowed to apply for more than one programme.
Applicants must not first obtain admission to one of the French-speaking universities of Belgium in order to apply for grants from ARES.
No treatment will be given to files that:
- Are incomplete;
- Are sent by fax or e-mail
- Arrive at ARES beyond the set deadline (indicated on this site);
- Are not provided on the adequate file (downloadable on this site), and in the language in which the programme is provided;
- Do not correspond to a programme presented in this site;
- Refer to more than one programme;
- Are not accompanied by the parts to join obligatorily (copy certified of the diploma,…). Photocopies or documents scanned of the certified copies are NOT accepted;
- Do not respect one the criteria of conformity clearly mentioned in the site (certified diploma, age, professional experience,…).
Applying for a ARES scholarship is absolutely free of charge. ARES does not charge any fee at any stage of the application or selection process. You may raise any question or concern about persons or companies claiming to be acting on behalf of ARES and requesting the payment of a fee by emailing us at [email protected].
Any application containing cash will be automatically rejected.
During the selection process between admissible files, ARES will take account of the following criteria:
The academic curriculum
For courses, priority will be granted to candidates who have not yet obtained a postgraduate degree, save for exceptional circumstances specified in the application file.
The benefit of previous scholarships
Priority will be granted to candidates who have not yet benefited from a scholarship in Belgium.
Professional experience
ARES grants scholarships as a matter of priority to candidates who, upon termination of their University studies, have had the opportunity of practising a profession in relation to problems of development. The social impact of professional experience constitutes an element of assessment.
Membership of a partner institution
Candidates who are appointed by an institution with which ARES has concluded a partnership, either within the framework of institutional co-operation or within the framework of an Targeted Interuniversity Project, will be granted priority in case of equality on the other selection criteria.
The commitment of the candidate to development activities
Special attention will be given to files of candidates who, beyond their academic qualities, have shown commitment to development issues. This commitment may materialise in having worked with the most disadvantaged social categories, and in having tried to define with them the efficient means to defend and promote their interests.
Nationality
ARES aims at diversifying the geographic origin of the scholars. It sees to it that in the overall of the international courses and training programmes organised in the framework of its North-Actions programme, candidates origina-ting in sub-saharian Africa represent 50% of the total number of scholars.
Gender equality
ARES grants special attention to the participation of women in the international courses and training programmes organised within the framework of the North-Actions programme.
Perspectives of future reinstatement
Major guarantees are required concerning the return of the candidate to his country of origin or to another developing country, as well as his reinstatement in a profession that enables him to put the training acquired in Belgium at the service of development (e.g. labour contract, formal promise of appointment) and to produce a multiplier effect to the benefit of his country of origin.
How to introduce an application for a scholarship ?
- The application form can be downloaded from our website here.
- It will be carefully completed and returned, ONLY by POST MAIL or EXPRESS MAIL, to ARES (rue Royale 180, 1000 Brussels, Belgium), that must be in their possession at the latest by 10 FEBRUARY 2016* (we do not hold account of the postmark, we take into account only the files arrived in our buildings for the date limits at the latest).
- No acknowledgement of receipt will be provided.
- Only applications presented on the appropriate form, and in the language of the programme, will be submitted to the selection committee.
- All elements of the file must be transmitted simultaneously. No complementary document will be admitted at a later stage.
- The candidates selected and of reserve will receive an e-mail at the end of the selections (June 2016). The non-selected candidates will receive an e-mail in the end of June 2016.
- No document transmitted to ARES will be returned to the candidates.
- No treatment will be given to files that do not respect one of the rules of selection clearly mentioned on the website (certified diploma, age, professional experience,…).
