First Scholarship Award

Since the 2014/2015 academic year, the award of scholarship has been subject to the provisions of the new Scholarship Act (ZŠtip-1).

The call for applications is published every year during the summer months. The applicants must be Slovenians (with or without citizenship) with permanent residence outside the Republic of Slovenia. They must have been enrolled in a first or second-cycle accredited higher education programme before the age of 27. This scholarship can be awarded only once – for either first or second-cycle programme.

The eligibility criteria are determined by the Scholarship act (ZŠtip-1) and are listed in each public call for applications.

The amount of scholarship

The scholarship amounts to EUR 204,80 per month.

Students, who are not citizens of an EU member state, an EEA country or Switzerland, can also be awarded the monthly fee for health insurance if they hold compulsory health insurance since the beginning of the academic year.

Scholarship granting procedure

The  deadline  for submitting the application and all the requested documents is set in the annual public call for applications. In addition to a completed and signed application form, the candidate must usually submit evidence of grades, Slovenian origin or association with Slovenian national minority or other evidence regarding the fulfilment of conditions for scholarship.

Applicants who submit incomplete applications are requested  to supplement them. By submitting complete applications, the applicants may greatly contribute to faster completion of the procedure. When the application is complete, the fulfilment of the conditions of the call for applications is verified.

If the applicant fulfils all the required conditions, the application is assessed based on the conditions of the call for applications specified by the Fund in cooperation with the Office for Slovenians Abroad of the Republic of Slovenia. These criteria include the average grade, active participation in Slovenian communities outside the Republic of Slovenia and the assessment by the relevant Office.

Selection of scholarship grantees

Applicants who achieve a higher number of points are selected as scholarship grantees based on the available funds. The amount of annual scholarship for each applicant from best candidate onward is deducted from the total amount of funds available until all funding is allocated.

Selected applicants are issued a written decision awarding them the scholarship from the current academic year until the end of the current educational programme. The scholarship holder must renew the scholarship annually by submitting an application for continued scholarship eligibility.

The applicants who were not selected receive a decision rejecting their application.

The decisions are usually issued by late autumn.