By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: The Swiss Government has announced the “Excellence Scholarship for Pakistani students” for the academic year 2024-25, according to the Higher Education Commission. Each year, the Swiss Confederation awards Excellence Scholarships to promote international exchange and research cooperation between Switzerland and over 180 other countries.
The research scholarship (research fellowship, PhD, Postdoc) is available to post-graduate researchers in any discipline (who hold a master’s degree is the minimum qualification required) who are planning to come to Switzerland to pursue research or further studies at doctoral or post-doctoral level. The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are aimed at providing education opportunities to the young researchers from abroad who have completed a master’s degree or PhD and foreign artists holding a bachelor’s degree.
The recipients are selected by the awarding body, the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS). The prospective applicants can study in the categories including one-year Research after Masters, 03-year PhD after Masters, one-year Post Doctorate. The interested candidates may also request for all necessary information and requirement regarding the scholarship by sending an email to Islamabad.scholarship@eda.admin.ch.
The deadline for submitting the application to the embassy is September 30 while more information is available through the weblink: https://www.sbfi.admin.ch/sbfi/en/home/education/scholarships-and-grants/swiss-government-excellence-scholarships.html. The applications are subject to preliminary selection by the relevant national authorities and/or the Swiss diplomatic representation. The short-listed applications are then assessed by the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS), which takes the final decision.
The FCS assesses scholarship applications according to three criteria including candidate profile, quality of the research project or artistic work and synergies and potential for future research cooperation.
The FCS is composed of professors from Swiss public universities. Scholarship awards are decided on the basis of academic and scientific excellence. The FCS will announce its decisions regarding the new scholarship awards by the end of May at the latest.
