Government Of Ireland International Education Scholarships 2024 (GOI-IES) | Master's and PHD

The Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship (GOI-IES) programme supports high-calibre international students who wish to study at master’s or doctoral level in Ireland. The programme was established under the Government’s International Education Strategy 2010–2015: Investing in Global Relationships and expanded under the successor strategy Irish Educated, Globally Connected (2016-
2020). It is also linked to Ireland’s National Skills Strategy 2025 – Ireland’s Future and Global Ireland: Ireland’s Global Footprint to 2025. The programme is funded by the Government of Ireland in partnership with Irish higher education institutions (HEIs) and managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA). The aim of the GOI-IES
programme is to promote the internationalisation of Irish higher education.

The GOI-IES is aimed at top-level international students – it is a highly competitive scheme for which a large number of applications are received each year. Applications are assessed by a panel of independent international reviewers and scholarships are awarded to the highest scoring candidates. GOI – IES scholars can explore avenues for
personal and professional development, establish connections with Irish and
international peers and enhance connections between their countries and Ireland.

2. Details of the scholarship

GOI-IES are awarded to high-calibre international students to study full-time in Ireland for a period of one year. Following a competitive process based on an annual call for proposals from individual applicants, the HEA will approve a defined number of scholarships under the programme. It is expected that a total of 60 scholarships will be funded under the GOI-IES programme for the 2024/2025 academic year.

3. Benefits of Government Of Ireland International Education Scholarships 2024

The scholarships will be for one year of a full-time master’s (taught or research) or
PhD programme. Scholarships may be approved for study across all disciplines, subject to the availability of places.

The scholarships amount to €10,000 for one year of study and are awarded by the HEA to the successful applicants through the HEIs that they are attending. This fund is directed at assisting with student costs and living expenses.

In addition, the awardees’ host HEIs will be required to give a full fee waiver to the awardees for the scholarship year (i.e. tuition fee and registration charge are waived).

This is the minimum matched funding requirement that institutions will be required to make to the scholarship scheme.

Successful scholars will be expected to commence their studies in either September or October 2024. An official awarding event for GOI-IES scholars will be held in April 2025.

4. Eligibility criteria

Applicants must have a domiciliary of origin outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland/ United Kingdom.

In solidarity with the people of Ukraine in the context of the continued aggression of Russia, and in line with the statement issued by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in March 2022, Russian and Belarussian nationals are not eligible to apply.

Candidates will need to apply for admission to a relevant master’s or PhD programme offered by an eligible HEI (see Appendix 1) as per that institution’s admission procedures. Applicants must have a conditional or final offer of admission to that HEI at the time of application and will be required to submit a copy of same. The offer
letter must confirm that the student has been offered a place on a full-time
programme as an international, paying student.

Should an applicant be in receipt of more than one offer, separate applications may be submitted for each course offer. Final offers will be subject to admission to the relevant HEI. Applicants should make enquiries directly to the relevant institution prior to submission of an application on the online system.

5. Candidate profile

Applicants are expected to demonstrate:

• a record of outstanding academic achievement;

• excellent communication skills;

• evidence of participation in extracurricular activities, for example,
humanitarian work, politics, arts or sport; and

• a strong rationale for pursuing their study in Ireland that indicates how a GOI-IES would align with their longer-term goals.

6. Evaluation criteria

Eligible students are invited to submit applications via the online application portal which is available at this link. A marking system (total 100 marks) is part of the call, with the relevant scores shown in brackets after the key selection criteria below.

Applicants are advised to familiarise themselves fully with the evaluation criteria prior to making an application. An application must cover the following:

• Academic qualifications, achievements and work experience (40 marks).

• Personal statement (refer to the Candidate profile), where applicants will
be required to demonstrate:

o the benefit of becoming a GOI-IES scholar: to themselves (personally
and professionally), to the HEI, to Ireland (economically and societally), as well as to their country of origin (15 marks).marks

o how they will extend themselves beyond their project/studies to
become actively involved in Irish society, in order to maximise their
academic and cultural exchange experience and to raise awareness of
the GOI-IES programme in Ireland and beyond (15 marks).

o the extent to which they have a long-term interest in Ireland and how
they will promote links with Ireland during their time as scholars and
alumni (15 marks).

• Two references uploaded via the online application portal. Please note that
the HEA will not accept references submitted outside of the online
application portal (15 marks).

7. Assessment and award process

Applications will first be shared with the relevant HEIs, who will check them for
eligibility and shortlist them based on alignment with institutional international strategic objectives
, for example:

• country of origin of applicants

• proposed study cycle of applicants (i.e., master’s or PhD)

• field of study of applicants

• institutional capacity

The HEA may request HEIs to prioritise students who are not in receipt of alternative scholarships or other funding support.

The HEA will establish an independent panel of international assessors to evaluate the applications shortlisted by the HEIs. The assessment panel will consider the extent to which the applications meet the criteria of the call as outlined above and will allocate scores in accordance with these criteria. Applications will be assessed solely based on the material provided to the HEA at the time of submission.

The assessment panel will submit their independent evaluations prior to coming
together to discuss the ranked list of applications. The assessment panel will then arrive at an overall judgement of standard and make final recommendations to the HEA. An independent process auditor will be present at the assessment panel meeting.

The top 12 ranked applications will be automatically funded on the basis of excellence, as they represent the top 20% of the 60 awards to be funded.

In addition to the ranked position of the applications, the remaining 48 awards will be allocated with consideration to:

• the institution (university, technological university, institute of technology etc.), field of study, level of study, geographical spread and alignment to regional and/or national needs;

• potential social and development benefit that might accrue to the country of origin in areas like education, social work, health promotion, and infrastructural development.

Only applications that meet a minimum threshold (60 marks) will be considered for a scholarship. There is a limit of five awards per HEI.

The HEA’s decision on whether to award a scholarship is final. Due to the very large number of applications received, it is not possible to give feedback to unsuccessful candidates.

Each HEI that has been named in a successful application will be contacted to confirm that they are in a position to provide the required matched funding.

Confirmation of this by the HEI constitutes its agreement to, and acceptance of, the terms of the call for applications.

An official GOI-IES award letter will be issued to successful applicants by the HEA.

8. Submission of Applications

Potential applicants should read the call documentation carefully to ascertain whether they are eligible to apply. All participants must create and submit their applications via the online system which is available here.

The deadline for GOI-IES 2024 applications is 5pm (Irish time) on 13 March 2024.

Applications will not be accepted after this deadline.

Any questions regarding the call for applications should be submitted to [email protected] no later than 12 March 2024. Telephone queries cannot be
accommodated

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2024 Call Document PDF

Official Site

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