SECONDARY SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM / 2018

17.10.2018 štipendiá

Nadácia otvorenej spoločnosti – Open Society Foundation (NOS – OSF) in cooperation with partner organizations American Secondary Schools for International Students and Teachers, Inc. (ASSIST), USA and The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), UK opens the 26th year of the Secondary School Scholarship Program providing scholarships at private secondary schools in USA and Great Britain.

Applicants

Program is open to students of the 2nd grade and some students of the 1st grade of secondary grammar schools and also international schools residing in Slovakia.

Partner organizations and programs:

1. ASSIST – one-year study stay in the US

American non-profit organization ASSIST represents over 80 prestigious American independent (private) schools offering one-year scholarships to students from 23 countries. Since 1969 over 5000 of the most talented high school students have had life changing experiences in their year abroad in some of the best private American high schools. Member schools are both boarding and day schools. Students have to remain in the US for the whole period of 10 months. ASSIST offers full and partial scholarships.

A detailed description of the program can be found at http://www.assist-inc.org or in the program brochure.

2. Davis International Scholars Program – two / three year scholarship in the US

Davis International Scholars Program offers the opportunity to receive scholarship at one of the 4 private boarding schools that are included in this program. Students complete their secondary school studies at these schools and if they decide to continue their education at one of the 86 universities included in the Davis program, they can receive financial aid for up to four years of their university studies. Scholarship is open primarily to socially disadvantaged students.

Since the scholarship is offered only at 4 schools (Emma Willard School, The Lawrenceville School, The Taft School, Westminster School) and the program is announced in at least 8 countries, the number of scholarships is very limited students are advised to apply also to the other programs offered.

3. HMC – one / two year study stay in Great Britain

The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) is a professional Association of heads of the world’s leading independent schools founded in 1992 with the aim to gives students from Central and Eastern Europe an unparalleled opportunity to study for two years in a British school. The program has nurtured excellent contacts between young people as they advance in their careers and retain a deep understanding of other countries’ traditions and culture.

Scholarship is offered to Slovak citizens born between February 1, 2002 and September 1, 2003. Selection for full scholarships is restricted to students whose parents’ combined net income was £30,000 or less in the year prior to the application.

More information about the program can be found at http://hmc.org.uk/projects or in the documents HMC Information for Applicants and HMC Information for Parents of Applicants.

4. HMC Reduced Fee Scheme – one/two year study stay in Great Britain

Students who meet the criteria for HMC scholarship but whose parental net income exceeds £30,000 in the year prior to the application, but is less than £80,000, may apply through the normal application procedure for a Reduced Fee Scholarship.

HMC Projects also nominates some students for consideration by schools as Reduced Fee Scholars. Fee reductions offered by schools for these scholars are typically around 75%.

Selection process

Students are selected based on their academic results, results of the English language test ELTiS and personal interview. Applicants need to have reached grade average of 1.75 in the previous school year. Students may apply to one, several or all of the programs providing they meet all the criteria for the particular program.

Information about the scholarship call is sent to all secondary grammar schools in Slovakia and published at http://osf.sk/sk/granty-a-stipendia/secondary-school-scholarship-program-3 (Under “Documents and forms for download”) where all support documents and forms are available for download and the link to online application is provided.

Registration fee 20 EUR is used to cover the test and interview administration costs.

Please pay the registration fee to the following account and attach the copy of your wire transfer confirmation to your application:

IBAN:                           SK78 1100 0000 0026 6900 0175

Account No.:                266 9000 175/1100

Bank:                           Tatra banka, a.s.

Variable symbol:          615606

Specific symbol:          your date of birth – ddmmrrrr

Constant symbol:         0558

Application deadline is November 30, 2018.

Applications are to be delivered to the foundation’s address in Bratislava by 3 p.m. on the day of the application deadline.  Applications delivered after this date and time, incomplete or incorrect applications will not be processed.

Send your application materials to:

NOS – OSF

SSS

Baštová 5

811 03 Bratislava 1

All students who meet the criteria are invited to the ELTiS language test.

Information about the test date and time is published only on the OSF website and no personal invitations are being sent, It is the responsibility of the applicant to follow the website for this information. The test takes place in the 50^th or 51^st week of the year 2018.

Students completing the language test successfully are invited to personal interviews with partner organizations’ representatives in January 2019.

Selection is based on results in the entry tests, a strong academic record and good references from the students’ own schools, proficiency in written and spoken English and performance at interview. An important criterion is the evident readiness of the student to adapt to a different country and to contribute through his or her own interests and enthusiasm to the life of the British school. Final decisions made by partner organizations will be announced in March 2019.

It is not possible to alter the test or interview dates.

Selection criteria

• ASSIST or Davis Program applicants are attending the second grade of a secondary grammar school (gymnázium) or the sixth grade of an 8-year secondary grammar school at the time of their application. This also applies to students of bilingual or international schools.

• HMC Program or HMC Reduced Fee Scheme applicants are attending the first or second grade of a secondary grammar school or the 5th or 6th grade of an 8-year secondary grammar school at the time of their application. These applicants also need to be born between February 1, 2002 and September 1, 2003.

• HMC and HMC Reduced Fee Scheme scholarships are only available to students with Slovak citizenship.

• Selection for HMC full scholarships is restricted to students whose parents’ combined net income was £30,000 or less in the year prior to the application.

• Very good command of the English language

• Very good academic results. The grade average from the previous school year should not exceed 1,75 (including). All terms are taken into account. If the school applicants are attending uses a different grading system that does not allow these calculations, please contact the program coordinator.

• Students are required to submit a complete application by the deadline. Incomplete or late applications will not be accepted.

Complete application includes:

• Filled in and printed application form (applications are submitted online)

• Application has to be signed by at least one parent / guardian. The parents of applicants for a full scholarship must sign a declaration that their combined net annual income during 2018 will not have exceeded the equivalent of £30,000.

• Personal essay

• Signed parental consent for processing personal data

• Transcript of grades from the previous school year

• Three recommendation letters of teachers on provided forms. Recommendation letters must stay confidential and therefore need to be sealed in envelopes and signed across the seal.

• Copy of all documents (except recommendation letters)

• Copy of wire transfer confirmation

• Students applying for full scholarship must fill in also the following forms:

• Family Financial Declaration and Application for a Sponsorship for the ASSIST a Davis application. Should the parents decide not to fill in the Family Financial Declaration, the student can only apply for a scholarship without sponsorship. Each year, ASSIST receives many more applications from qualified students than we have full scholarships to offer. In these instances, partial scholarships – approximately half of the school tuition – may be offered to candidates.

• Printed form HMC Projects Financial Declaration Form in case of HMC and HMC Reduced Fee Scheme.

Documents are to be sent as single-sided, not stapled and not separated into different folders. Recommendation letters in signed sealed envelopes shall be included in the same mailing and not sent separately.

Financial responsibilities

Number and type of awarded scholarships is decided by our partner organizations.

School year cost

Partner schools provide scholarships that cover full or partial tuition, room and board. Value of these scholarships can range to 60 000 USD or 40 000 GBP.

As with all international exchange programs, a fee is charged to all participants. The ASSIST full scholarship program fee in Slovakia for the 2019/20 academic year is 6000 USD for Slovak citizens. In case of full scholarship without sponsorship families are also responsible for round-trip airfare expenses from Slovakia to the U.S., the return trip from the school at the end of the year, health and accident insurance, the medical examination, spending money (about US $150/month), and any activity fees and expenses (such as books and supplies) charged by the school.

Each year, ASSIST receives many more applications from qualified students than they have full scholarships to offer. In these instances, partial scholarships – approximately half of the school tuition – may be offered to candidates. The ASSIST program fee in 2019/20 for partial scholarship students is US $32,250. Tuitions at member boarding schools in 2018/19 range up to US $64,499. In 2018/19, 79 students were awarded full scholarships, and 95 students were awarded partial scholarships.

Program fee for the HMC full scholarship is 1400 GBP. Families are also responsible for the round-trip airfare expenses from Slovakia to the UK and back in case of all school breaks and holidays, health and accident insurance if necessary, spending money and any activity fees and expenses (such as books and supplies) charged by the school.

For applicants for ASSIST and Davis programs with other than Slovak citizenship, the fees of the corresponding ASSIST country apply. If ASSIST program is not offered in the particular country, the fees of the ASSIST country with closest socioeconomic situation will be used.

Students are also responsible for travel cost to the testing and interviews.