Middle East & North Africa Merit Scholarships

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Scholarship Programme (or MSP) offers scholarships to professionals from ten countries. The scholarships can be used for short courses, with a duration of up to 89 days, in the Netherlands.

The main aim of the MSP is to contribute to democratic transition in the selected countries. It also aims at building capacity within organizations, by enabling employees to take part in short courses in the Netherlands. While the scholarship is awarded to individuals, all candidates must be nominated by their employer to be able to participate. The need for training has to be demonstrated in the context of the organization the applicant is employed by. The training course must help the organization develop its capacity.

To apply, students must be:

• You are a mid-career professional (up to 45 years of age);
• You are academically accepted by UT and have obtained a letter of admittance to the short course;
• You can apply for MSP when you live and work in one of the countries on the MSP country list;
• You must have a current employer’s statement which complies with the format Nuffic has provided.  This means you will need to provide an employer’s statement. You can find the Word format of this letter here (to be found at the bottom of the list). The employer’s letter should be written on the employer’s letter heading and signed and stamped by an authorized person/head of the organization. The letter should be dated. If your letter does not meet the format it will be discarded and your application is considered incomplete. All information must be provided and all commitments, which are included in the format, must be endorsed in the statement;
• You must not be employed by an organization that has its own means of staff development. Organizations that are considered to have their own means of staff development are for example multinational corporations (e.g. Shell, Unilever, Microsoft); large national and/or large commercial organizations; bilateral donor organizations (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid); multilateral donor organizations, (e.g. a UN organization, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB); international NGO’s (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care);
• You must supply a motivation on why you wish to be nominated. Please download the mandatory format of this statement from the MSP pages (to be found almost at the bottom of the list).  For MSP certain priorities have been indicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is advised to clearly state your affinity and interest in one of the priority areas for MSP in your country and/or region. It is advised to contact your Embassy on this issue.  
• You might be required to submit a government statement. Please check this listing if you are required to do so. Please download the mandatory format of this statement from the MSP pages (to be found almost at the bottom of the list).
• You possess a valid identification document (preferably a passport) that is (at least) valid during the entire application process;
• You are not allowed to receive more than one fellowship simultaneously for programs taking place at the same time.