Minister Grabar-Kitarović signed scholarship contracts with 9th generation of postgraduate European Studies students

The MFAEI, on behalf of the Croatian Government, in co-operation with the UK Foreign Office, is conducting for the 9th year in a row the scholarship program for the one-year postgraduate European Studies. The Government’s program of financing one-year postgraduate European Studies abroad was launched in 1998.

The program, whose basic goal is to strengthen the administrative capacities of Croatia’s state administration, is designed to ensure a greater number of experts in the field of European integration, i.e. law, economy, and multidisciplinary studies, who will upon the completion of their studies be employed within the state administration bodies, depending on the program of their studies, personal and professional orientation and interests, and the personnel needs of the Croatian Government.

This year’s program was co-financed by Belgium’s College of Europe – Brugge, Ireland’s Dublin European Institute, and Austria’s University of Graz, as well as the companies Volksbanka Zagreb and Pliva Zagreb.

Within this year’s program, the 2006/2007 postgraduate European Studies will be attended by 21 scholarship students elected in a public competition published 15 January 2006. Out of the overall 73 applicants, the Selection Committee has selected 21 scholarship students who will attend 8 different universities.

The Memorandum of Understanding that was signed today is a tripartite agreement between the UK Foreign Office, University of Sussex, and Croatian MFAEI on financing 10 scholarship students per year at the University of Sussex in Brighton for the next three academic years (06/07, 07/08, 08/09).

In the past 8 years, the Government’s program of financing one-year postgraduate European Studies abroad has educated more than 170 experts at 28 different universities in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. Upon the completion of their studies, the scholarship students are obliged to work for the state administration for at least 3 years, and are employed in various state administration and state authority bodies. The 24 scholarship students from the 8th generation are currently returning to Croatia and being employed within the state administration bodies.

The state budget allotted 1,844,000 kunas for this year’s program, while other sources provided 1,518,000 kunas, raising the overall funds to more than 3,350,00 kunas.