The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET)

Request for Applications: To Host PhD Programs Financed by the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund
Released: June 27, 2016

The Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology is an Africa-led initiative with the objective of strengthening the science, technology and engineering capability in sub-Saharan Africa to further its socio-economic transformation. The PASET Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF)[1] will contribute towards training 10,000 PhD students in the fields of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (ASET) for priority sectors in 10 years, and building the capacity of PhD programs in a core of African universities. The first round RSIF will be implemented through competitively selected Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE), which have the capacity to offer PhD programs in the selected thematic areas. PASET is aligned with the ACE project objective of supporting higher education institutions to deliver quality post-graduate education programs and build research capacity in priority areas. The scholarship will be open to all but priority will be given to faculty members and students will be selected by PASET host institutions. The RSIF is being seeded by contributions from the Governments of Senegal, Rwanda and Ethiopia who have taken the lead in establishing the RSIF.

Regional Scholarship Innovation Fund [RSIF]

RSIF will eventually operate with three-grant windows: PhD training, research, and innovation. This application is related to PhD training only with the first batch of scholars expected to enroll in January 2017. The program will start on a limited scale in the first year and expand in the coming years.as more countries join and start contributing to PASET.  Eighty percent of the first round of scholarships will be reserved for students from the current funding countries, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Senegal, with twenty percent of scholarships open to students from other sub-Saharan African countries.  Due to lack of qualified faculty in many SSA universities, preference in scholarship awards will be given to current faculty members who do not hold PhD. Female candidates will be encouraged to apply and will receive preference if they meet other eligibility criteria.

Eligibility

The World Bank financed Africa Centers of Excellence (both under Phase I in West and Central Africa and under Phase II in Eastern and Southern Africa) are eligible to submit Applications to host PhD students in the thematic areas noted below. Every ACE applicant must have at least one PhD degree program in one of the thematic areas described below and which is offered by the World Bank financed ACE directly. PhD programs offered at a partner or affiliated institution, or even within the same university/ institution but outside of the ACE, will not be eligible. Non-ACE institutions, even if they work in the thematic areas below will not be considered for the first round of host institutions. In future calls, the eligibility is expected to be expanded to non-ACE hosting institutions.

Thematic Areas

The following four thematic areas have been identified for 2016:

• Energy – needs in development of power generation and distribution, renewable energy and addressing climate change
• Information and Communications Technology (ICT) – needs in telecommunications and other ICT-driven development
• Food security –needs in agriculture, food processing industries, etc.
• Mining, Mineral and Materials Engineering – needs in mining, materials/mineral processing and manufacturing, etc.

Expected Timeline

 Scholarship disbursement

PASET funds will cover full tuition costs and a stipend for room, board, textbooks and research materials. Following standard practice, the cost of tuition fees and monitoring expenses will be disbursed to the selected PASET scholar’s host institutions; the cost of living expenses, academic expenses and travel etc. will be disbursed directly to PASET scholars.

Submission Information

Submit your Application to paset@aau.org with a copy to pasetafrica@worldbankgroup.org by 5:00pm (GMT +0, Ghana local time) on August 1st, 2016.

 Download the documents associated with this call:

1. Information Document – Request for Applications to become PASET Host Institution-Final_June 27_English
2. Application Form- Request for Application to Host PASET Scholars_Final_June 27_English

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