SAARC CHAIR, FELLOWSHIP AND SCHOLARSHIP SCHEME
(Revised)

Recognizing that the SAARC Chair, Fellowship and Scholarship scheme did not work well since its inception in 1987, the Workshop on operation and related issues of the Scheme held at Kathmandu on 22-23 October 2002 revised modalities on conceptual framework, organisational management and coordination and financing of the Scheme.

The recommendations of the Workshop were reviewed by the Second Meeting of Technical Committee on Human Resources Development held in Colombo on 7-8 November 2002. Following is the revised Scheme as recommended by the TC HRD:

http://www.saarc-sec.org/areaofcoope...activity_id=16

Fellowships are intended for PhD holders who may be working in a university, research body or organisation, but who would like to build an academic career. Fellows will be expected to conduct some research, but will also be expected to maintain a reasonable teaching load. The position of Fellow is intended to provide the individual both with university-level teaching experience, and with the opportunity to develop their research and publication portfolio. The host institution will benefit directly from the teaching and the research undertaken – whether this is self-directed or undertaken as a research assistant to a senior academic. The duration of the post should be not less than six months.

Scholarships are for Graduate/Masters and PhD programmes. These will be purely academic degrees. The benefit to the individual will be the opportunity to study for a higher degree in a specialized area or in an institution with a high reputation in his or her particular field of interest. There are two direct benefits to the institution or host country: first, the supervisor under whom the student is doing his PhD programme will benefit from assistance in research and publication; second, the institution will have a high-quality student who is likely to succeed in his/her studies, enhancing the academic reputation of the institution offering the programme. The duration of the scholarship will be the normal course duration. If the nominating country desires to utilize the scholarship for under-graduate, then the sponsoring country should accommodate them also

SAARC Scholarships :
a. All focal points will forward seats offered in each discipline to the SAARC secretariat by 31 July each year.
b. SAARC secretariat will publish the number of seats available in each discipline in the form of a brochure/booklet and circulate among the member countries by 15 August each year.
c. The identified focal points in the member countries will advertise the seats offered by other countries in the national newspapers and invite applications from interested citizens by 30 September each year.
d. The respective countries will compile the applications category-wise and subject-wise. Short listing will be completed by end of 31 October.
e. Member countries will ensure that incomplete applications and/or applications received after the deadline may not be entertained.
f. Interview calls to the eligible candidates will be issued by 15 November.
g. Interviews may be conducted by 16 December.
h. Member countries will submit two nominations i.e. one principal and one alternate candidate for each seat available to the SAARC secretariat by 31 December.
i. SAARC secretariat will communicate final results to the Ministry and the UGC by 10 February. Intimations to successful candidates and the ministries concerned will be sent by end of February each year.

Scholarships :
The scholarship/stipend should be sufficient enough to cover the local expenses comfortably. The candidate should also be given waiver of admission fee, tuition fee, visa fee. He should be provided with book allowances, establishment allowances and medical care.
Return air ticket economic class should be provided by the sending government.