DAAD: German Egyptian Research Short-Term Scholarship Program (GERSS) for Egyptian Students 2018/2019

The GERSS scholarships offer young Egyptian scientists and academics the opportunity to travel to Germany. The scholarship shall enable advanced graduate students and young scientists to pursue part of their master’s, doctoral or post-doctoral research in a specific research project at German universities, archives, libraries or research institutes.

Application Deadline: 15th May 2018

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: Egypt

To Be Taken At (Country): Germany

Type: Masters, PhD, Short courses

Eligibility: 

• The programme is aimed at Master’s students, doctoral candidates and young postdocs.
• Applicants must be enrolled at a private or state university or research institute in Egypt.
• Applicants for a GERSS scholarship must have a Bachelor, Master or PhD degree.
• Age Limits
  – Graduates: should not be older than 26 years
  – Medicine / Dentistry Graduates: should not be older than 29 years
  – PhD candidates: should not exceed 36 years
  – Post doc candidates should not be older than 40 years
• Generally, candidates residing outside Egypt for a period longer than 6 months are not allowed to apply for GERSS
• Candidates who have been granted the GERLS scholarship may apply for GERSS – at least – one year after returning from Germany
• Applicants who have been rejected 3 times in the GERSS programme, are not entitled to reapply
• Candidates from non-public universities will be limited in number according to the internal regulations between MHESR and DAAD
• Applicants submitting dual applications in MHESR or DAAD programmes are kindly requested to inform the DAAD Cairo Office in writing
• Candidates who received a DAAD/MHESR funded scholarship at a certain academic stage are not allowed to apply for GERSS, unless they change their academic status
• Academic studies in musicology are offered within the GERSS scholarship; however instrumentalists can apply for the programme “Study Scholarship for Foreign Graduates in the field of Performing Artists”. For more information, please refer to the scholarship database (www.funding-guide.de)
• Candidates from the field of medicine / dentistry can only apply for GERSS, if they intend to visit Germany for research purposes with no direct contact with patients
• Applicants employed at the public universities or research institutes should fulfill the eligibility criteria of the mission Department

All applicants must submit proof of English language skills/abilities. The proof should be either IELTS (band 6.5) certificate or institutional TOEFL ITP (minimum score 550) or international TOEFL IBT (minimum score 80). Research projects submitted in German language in the fields of German studies, Islamic studies in German are exempted.
Please note: Post-doctoral candidates who can submit a proof that they have conducted their PhD degree in English language in the context of an international program could be exempted .

Selection Criteria: Selection will take place at the DAAD-Branch Office Cairo.
The candidates will be selected in two rounds. First, a pre-selection is a paper-based procedure which will identify the group of applicants who will be invited for the second phase consisting of a personal interview with the GERSS independent selection committee. Pre- and final selection of the candidates should be conducted according to, but not limited to the following criteria:

• Excellent Research proposal
• Scientific merits, including:
  – Quality of the proposal
  – Preparation and feasibility of the project
  – Quality of the acceptance letter
• Excellent study achievement

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: This programme funds research visits to a research institute, a state or state-recognised private university in Germany.

Travel allowance for scholarship holders:

• A lump sum will be paid for travel and an accident and liability insurance will be provided

Monthly scholarship payment according to academic status:

• Post-Doctoral scholarship holders will be granted an amount of Euro 2.145 (two thousand one hundred forty-five Euros) per month
• Doctoral and MSc scholarship holders will be granted an amount of Euro 1069 (one thousand and sixty-nine Euros) per month
• GERSS scholarship does not include family allowances

Health insurance:

• The amounts for the DAAD health insurance will be deducted from the monthly stipend of each scholarship holder
• One additional insurance installment will be added and will begin 15 days prior to the arrival to Germany and end 15 days after the scheduled departure date to Egypt

Duration of Program: The scholarships are awarded for a period of 3-6 months.  Scholarship periods are not extendable

How to Apply: The application is only valid, when all required documents are uploaded on the DAAD portal AND submitted as one hard copy to the DAAD Cairo office.

It is important to go through the Application Procedure in the Program Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: DAAD