The Commonwealth Scholarship in New Zealand

General Scholarships

Commonwealth Scholarships in New Zealand are administered by the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee (NZVCC). Funding for the scholarships to developing countries is provided by the New Zealand government aid agency, NZAID. Awards to citizens of Canada and the United Kingdom are supported by the universities themselves.

Scholarships are available for either Masters or doctoral level study. In the case of Masters study, awards may be tenable for up to two years, with a possibility of a three month extension. In the case of doctoral study, the maximum length is four years. Approximately 10-20 new awards are made each year. Awards are tenable at any of the following universities:

* www.auckland.ac.nz
* www.aut.ac.nz(AUT do not currently support Developed Country students)
* www.canterbury.ac.nz
* www.lincoln.ac.nz
* www.massey.ac.nz
* www.otago.ac.nz
* www.vuw.ac.nz
* www.waikato.ac.nz

Awards are tenable in all disciplines, but candidates supported by NZAID should be working on topics of relevance to the development of their home country. In addition, selection committees seek to obtain a gender balance and geographical spread of countries represented.

# Subject: Open, preference will be given to those candidates studying subjects of developmental relevance to their home country.


# Length of Tenure:

Up to two years for Masters study.
Up to three and a half years for PhD study.

# Value: of NZAID funded scholarships (from 1 January 2006):

NOTE: Value of the allowances may differ between institutions for scholars from Canada and the United Kingdom.

Unaccompanied stipend rate: NZ$15,600 per annum

Accompanied stipend rates: - Student plus spouse/partner (or one child only ): NZ$26,000 per annum

- Student plus spouse/partner and one child (or two children only): NZ$30,420 per annum

- Student plus spouse/partner and two or more children: NZ$34,840 per annum

Other allowances include tuition fees, travel, health insurance and establishment allowance. Full details are available in the NZAID Commonwealth Scholarship student handbook which have been sent to participating agencies.


# Applications: Applications must be made in the first instance to the Commonwealth Scholarship agency in the country in which the applicant has his/her permanent home. Please choose the relevant country from the list of Agencies below to get more details and the correct application form.Please note that not all developing countries may be eligible to receive NZAID Commonwealth scholarships. Please check the country eligibility though the NZAID website before contacting your home agency.

For more information and get form click here

Applications for citizens of Bangladesh

Information regarding General Commonwealth Scholarships for citizens of Bangladesh can be obtained from:

University Grants Commission of Bangladesh
Agargaon
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Dhaka 1207
Tel 880 2 811331/9114707
Fax 880 2 822948
Email info@ugc.com

It should be noted that the University Grants Committee undertakes the selection process on behalf of the Ministry of Education.

Countries offering awards to Bangladesh in recent years have included Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Awards are publicised via advertisements in at least four daily newspapers. The UGC estimate that the number of applications received for awards last year was over 500 (United Kingdom), 250-500 (Canada) and 50-100 (New Zealand).

Selection is undertaken by a committee chaired by a specially created sub-committee, including Chairman and members of the UGC, Education Ministry representatives and representatives of the host country concerned. The committee expect candidates to have first class academic records, including publication for those seeking doctoral awards. Preference is also given to fields of study which meet national needs, and candidates aged 35 or below.

Successful candidates are required to sign a bond indicating that they will return to serve in the country following their award.

Application Forms for citizens of Bangladesh

* For all awards tenable in the United Kingdom, further details on applications are available on the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK site.
* Please use this form for all awards tenable elsewhere

The application forms are in pdf format and you will require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view them. You can download Acrobat Reader from here on the Adobe website.

Information on this page is based on details supplied by the UGC in June 2002