Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals (SISGP) :  Full Funded  Masters degree scholarships  : ( Deadline : 15 January 2020 )

Who we are looking for

The Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals (SISGP) programme is part of the Swedish government’s international awards scheme aimed at developing global leaders who will contribute to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden and administered by the Swedish Institute (SI). The programme offers a unique opportunity for global professionals to develop professionally and academically, to experience Swedish society and culture, and to build a long-lasting relationship with Sweden and with each other.

The goal is to enable the scholarship holders to play an active role in the positive development of the societies in which they live. Ideal candidates are ambitious young professionals with academic qualifications, demonstrated work and leadership experience, ambition to make a difference by working with issues which contribute to a just and sustainable development in their country in a long term perspective, and a clear idea of how a study programme in Sweden would benefit their country.

Priority will be given to applicants with a strong and relevant professional background and demonstrated leadership experience.

How we evaluate and select

After the application deadline, we carry out a screening of all applications and disqualify those that do not meet the eligibility criteria for SISGP. In addition, if you fail to follow the instructions for required documents, such as incomplete application, wrong form, missing valid stamp, etc., your application will be disqualified. Reasons for disqualification are given in the instructions in the forms and here on the website. Therefore, it is very important that you read through all available information carefully.

We will then evaluate all the eligible applications and take into consideration all the information provided in your applications. We will grade them according to the aim and purpose of the scholarship programme. We are looking for talented and active professionals with capability, a platform and ambition to contribute to international development. You will find more information about the kind of candidates we are looking for above. The evaluation is comprehensive and therefore you need to be outstanding in all aspects to get through the tough competition and be selected for a scholarship. We give priority to certain factors which you can read more about in the eligibility criteria section.

When the admission results for master’s studies are announced at universityadmissions.se on 3 April 2020, we will do a further evaluation of the eligible applications which have been admitted (including conditional admissions) to a Swedish university and make the final selection from them. Your scholarship application will therefore no longer be considered if you are not admitted by 3 April 2020.

The quality of the application is crucial in our selection. We compile a short list on the basis of the evaluation process described above. However, we aim at having all genders represented as equally as possible in the final list of scholarship recipients. We also want to include as many of the eligible countries and Swedish universities as possible, provided there is sufficient number of strong applications. We also need to stay within our budget. We may therefore make an additional adjustment in the final selection process in order to achieve the distribution we are aiming for. We do not have any quotas for specific countries, fields of study, Swedish universities, etc.

The competition for SISGP is very high. We recommend that you also look for other scholarship opportunities from your government, from organisations in your country, or from Swedish universities.

Required documents

You should only submit the required documents listed below in your online scholarship application. We will not consider any other documents than the required ones. You must complete your application in English. Use our forms and templates provided below and complete them according to the instructions both below and in the forms, or else your applications will be disqualified. Kindly note the length limitation for your answers and the documents.

1. A motivation letter: you must use the SISGP form for motivation letter 2020/2021. You need to fill in and upload the motivation letter as a PDF-file on the application portal during the application period. The form will be uploaded here by the end of January 2020.
2. A Curriculum Vitae (CV): you must use the SISGP form for CV 2020/2021 and the CV should not exceed three pages. It’s up to you to decide which parts are relevant for your application. Additional pages will not be considered.
3. Two different letters of reference: you must use the SISGP form for letter of reference 2020/2021. At least one letter of reference must be based on your work experience. It will be a merit if the second letter of reference is based on your involvement in networks or civil society organisations outside of your regular work. The letters should be signed by the referee and stamped with an official stamp of the referred organisation or a notary office. The form(s) should be typed, then printed, signed and stamped; and then be uploaded as one PDF-file. You can find more information in the instruction in the form and in our FAQ.
4. Proof of work and leadership experience: you must use the SISGP form for proof of work and leadership experience 2020/2021. The work and leadership form should be signed by the referee and stamped with an official stamp of the referred organisation or a notary office. The form(s) should be typed, then printed, signed and stamped; and then be uploaded as one PDF-file. You can find more information in the instruction in the form and in our FAQ.
5. A copy of your passport: your personal data including name, citizenship and photograph must be shown clearly. Copy of passport should be included together with the CV as a last fourth page. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have a copy of your valid passport to include.

Make sure you have a complete application

A complete application must consist of:

1. a completed motivation letter
2. a CV
3. two valid and completed letters of reference
4. valid and completed proof of work and leadership experience
5. a copy of your valid passport

If your application is missing one of the required documents above, it will be disqualified.

If you apply to several master’s programmes

You should submit only one scholarship application for all the eligible master’s programmes that you applied for at universityadmissions.se. It means, in one scholarship application, you can apply for SI scholarships for up to four eligible master’s programmes that you applied at universityadmissions.se. However, if you have also applied for master’s programme(s) at Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), you should create and submit an additional scholarship application separately for the master’s programme(s) at SSE. If you only want to apply for SI scholarships for master’s programme(s) at SSE, you only need to submit one scholarship application for all the master’s programms you applied for at SSE.

Each scholarship application should have only one of each required document attached, no matter how many master’s programmes you applied for. If you have applied at both universityadmissions.se and SSE, you should attach all the required documents in both the scholarship applications.