Bilateral Scholarships

Eligible countries:

Belgium-French Community/ Walloon region, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Kazakhstan, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Ukraine.

Scholarships are awarded to applicants nominated by the competent authorities of eligible countries. National authorities are either education ministries or/and respective agencies designated by the ministries in the home country. Applications sent by individual applicants directly to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic will not be processed.

The scholarship is usually designed for study stays of students (bachelor/master level) and/or or research stays of PhD students.  The length of scholarship (usually ranges from 1 to 10 months), the categories of eligible recipients (students on bachelor/master level/researchers/ teachers /PhD students) depends upon the agreement concerned.

The scholarship cannot be awarded for a complete course of study leading to a degree (unless stated otherwise in the agreement).

If not specified otherwise, the stays shall take place not earlier than 15 September 2023 and not later than 30 August 2024. The Ministry reserves the right to change the requested term of scholarship and/or place any applicant to a course and/or higher education institution different from those indicated in his/her scholarship application form, if admission as requested by the applicant is not feasible.

The scholarship can only be used within the implementation period, it cannot be postponed to the following academic year.

The details about scholarship types, quotas for 2023/2024 and deadlines for applications is in the table of quotas enclosed to this call. Coverage and financial responsibilities of agreement parties are specified in the agreements directly.

The amount of monthly scholarship for academic year 2023/2024, if not specified otherwise in bilateral agreement:

For students (bachelor/master level): 400 € per month (from February 2022; instead of 280 €).

For PhD students: 734 € per month (from February 2022; instead of 330 €).

For university teachers or researchers (without title PhD. or equivalent): 734 € per month (from February 2022; instead of 550 €).

For university teachers or researchers (with title PhD. or equivalent): 1015 € per month (from February 2022; instead of 550 €).

Application procedure:

Application form is attached to this call and can be downloaded from

https://www.minedu.sk/scholarships-offered-within-the-framework-of-bilateral-programs-of-cooperation-for-20232024/

Deadline for applications

The competent authorities of eligible countries are responsible for the selection process of nominees. The nomination letter (including the list of nominees) must be delivered to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic at the latest on 1 April 2023, if not specified otherwise. Specification is indicated in the table of quotas enclosed to this call. 
Postal address: Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, Stromová 1, 813 30 Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

The nominating authority will be informed about the final decision of the Ministry by 30 June 2023.

The Ministry reserves the right to make a final decision on applications.

Recommendations for applicants:

The application form shall be filled in Slovak (alternatively Czech) language or in English. Supporting documents as listed and requested at the end of the application form shall be provided in one of those languages only.

The nominated candidate shall propose 2 scholarship periods in the application form (one preferred, and one alternative);

Following documents should be attached to the application:

• • • • structured curriculum vitae,
      • motivation letter (stating the personal and professional motivation of the applicant for the stay in Slovakia),
      • detailed study, teaching or research programme proposal,
      • invitation letter or letter of acceptance from the host institution (if applicable)
      • the copy of the passport in case of students from third countries
      • recommendation(s):
        • students (bachelor/master level): 2 recommendations from university teachers of the university that issued the transcript of study records,
        • PhD students: 1 recommendation from the PhD thesis supervisor,
        • University teachers and researchers: 1 recommendation from the home institution (head of department, leader of the research group etc.)
        • in case of students (bachelor/master level): transcript of study records for up to now study at the home institution,
        • in case of PhD students, university teachers and researchers: list of own publications related to the research programme of the stay,
        • copy of PhD diploma or its equivalent
        • Photo in size 3,5 cm x 4 cm (passport style photo) attached to each the original and the copy of the application form

The communication language at Slovak institutions is Slovak (alternatively Czech) or English. In case the applicant does not command Slovak (Czech) language on the satisfactory level, it is necessary to state the level of English in the application (and if possible to provide also official confirmation of language skills/certificate). Only if the invitation letter/letter of acceptance from the Slovak host institution states a communication language other than Slovak or English, the stay can be organised in that respective language (in such case it is necessary to state the level of the respective communication language in the application form, and if possible to provide also official confirmation of language skills/certificate).

The application form has to be signed by the applicant in person and the applicant must agree with personal data processing in all cases, otherwise the application cannot be accepted and processed.

Important:

Applications for the Summer school of Slovak language and culture (Studia Academica Slovaca)
in August 2023 should be submitted only in the online system of the Comenius University. Information on the courses can be found at https://fphil.uniba.sk/katedry-a-odborne-pracoviska/sas/studium-courses/summer-school-sas/. The application process will be active in February 2023. National authorities should confirm the list of nominated candidates by diplomatic channel.

Should you need more information, you may contact SAIA, n.o.  (Slovak Academic Information Agency, www.saia.sk).

Part of the scholarship, provided by the Slovak side, is financed under Investment 4, Component 10 of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic – co-financing from the European Union from the NextGenerationEU mechanism.

Candidates for scholarship programmes in the Slovak Republic have the obligation, if necessary, to tolerate control activities and audits and to cooperate with the authorities of the Slovak Republic and the European Union or persons authorized by these authorities in their control or monitoring activities or in the performance of audits in connection with the financial resources provided as part of the scholarship. However, it is assumed that the controls and audits will be primarily focused on relevant Slovak entities involved in the scholarship process.

In accordance with the mentioned bilateral agreements, a candidate for a scholarship stay in the Slovak Republic cannot receive financial support providing a scholarship stay at the accepting institution in the Slovak Republic from another source, or from another scholarship programme.