The Inter-American Development Bank is calling for candidates to apply for its scholarship program for mid-level government officials in Latin America and the Caribbean to obtain master's degrees at five universities in the region. Applications for the Centro Agronómico Tropical in Costa Rica should be received before October 31st.
The scholarships are designed for officials with at least five years of experience in the public sector who have not reached the highest managerial levels in their agencies. Scholarship recipients must agree to return to work in their countries and their employers must expressly guarantee that the officials may do so once their studies are completed.
Candidates must be citizens of an IDB borrowing member country under 45 years of age and have a university degree with an excellent academic record.
Scholarship recipients will study in another country than the one they work in, in order to gain experience and knowledge that will help promote regional integration and a more international outlook, in addition to the opportunity to receive technical training.
The scholarship covers the costs of tuition, medical and accident insurance, living expenses and books for up to two years, plus economy-class, round-trip air fare from the student's place of residence to the university location. The scholarship becomes effective at the beginning of the academic year and does not cover any summer courses.
The following master's degree programs have been approved for this scholarship:
Maestría en Política y Gestión de la Ciencia y la Tecnología from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Mestrado em Política Científica e Tecnológica from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil; Maestría en Tecnologías de Información y Administración from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo, Mexico; Magister en Asentamientos Humanos y Medio Ambiente from Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile; and Maestría en Socioeconomía Ambiental from Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica.
Candidates must be admitted to one of these programs before applying for the IDB scholarship.
Information on the IDB scholarship and application forms can be obtained from IDB Country Offices in the region and from IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The deadline for submission of applications is end of October for those whose courses begin in January and mid-December for students enrolling in courses that begin between March and April of the following year. The scholarships will be awarded at the end of November for the first group and at the end of January for the second.