Global Education: Russian government scholarship program for study abroad

Hi, Habr!

In the fall, foreign universities will begin accepting applications from applicants for the academic year 2016/2017. For those who are eager to get a diploma from the University of Ivy League or the university, included in the top 200 best universities in the world, the government of the Russian Federation launched the Global Education scholarship program.
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By the way, this is the first post of our project StudyQA . We make free smart search engine of educational programs in foreign universities, which will help you find the program, contact the university admissions office and apply for the program of interest directly from the site. We are going to write about various interesting internships, courses and studies abroad, as well as free opportunities.

In this article we will talk about the intricacies of obtaining a grant and the conditions for participation in this program for those who want to continue their studies in graduate and postgraduate studies in technical specialties.

What is Global Education?

On December 28, 2013, the Global Education project was launched.
The essence of the program is simple: the grant is given to candidates who have entered one of 227 foreign educational institutions for approved master's, postgraduate or residency programs. After graduation, the participant will have to return to Russia and work for 3 years in one of the participating companies .

Global Education provides grants to support five priority areas:

• the science
• education
• the medicine
• engineering
• management in the social sphere.

It was originally planned to provide funding to 1500 Russian citizens in the amount of 1381800 rubles per year for education and accommodation. But, due to the economic situation, it was decided to halve the number of participants and increase funding to 2.7 million per year .

The terms of participation:

• Russian citizenship (no matter where you live at the moment);
• completed higher education (if you received a bachelor's degree in another country, then the diploma must go through the procedure of nostrification);
• availability of an invitation letter from a foreign university;
• no criminal record and no formal barriers to work for three years after the return.

In 2015, it is planned to hold 4 competitive selections (1 passed, the next deadline in early June, then August - September)

Package of documents:

• Application (to be completed on the program’s educationglobal.ru/kandidatu website);
• Application Form (also on the program website );
• Estimated costs ( ibid .). The estimate is calculated for the entire period at once. If you are already studying in a foreign university, the estimate is calculated only for the remaining period of study. The amount of the remaining expenses is fixed and depends on the country of study (approximately 60 thousand rubles per month). More information here );
• Passports (Russian and foreign);
• Certificate of no criminal record;
• A document confirming enrollment / invitation / study at a foreign university;
• An official document with the cost of the program;
• The document on changing the name, certificate of assignment of TIN, insurance certificate, employment record, certificate of employment (if available);
• Agreement on the provision of paid services with a foreign-higher education institution.
• How to increase the chances of competitive selection:
• Early registration in the electronic queue (this is strange, but, nevertheless, the earlier you register, the greater the chances of winning). When registering, it is not necessary to attach the entire package of documents at once;
• Publications in leading scientific journals, which are included in the lists of Web of science and Scopus (if you are on a scientific track);
• Experience in the specialty;
• Education in a foreign university.

If you are studying at a foreign university from the list of programs at the time you apply, then you have an advantage in competitive selection.

Employment conditions:

• You will have to return to the Russian Federation one month after graduation and find a job in one of the organizations of the program;
• Approximately 10% of program participants can get a job in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Most of the participants are in other regions of the Russian Federation;
• No more than two times in all the time, you can change your place of work
• If you refuse to comply with the terms of the program, you will be required to pay a fine of twice the amount of the grant awarded;

If you want to work in your own company or in another organization that is not on the list approved by the program, then the company can apply for inclusion in the list. It is important that in this case, the organization must be registered for at least three years.

Important to remember:

• You can apply for the program not only to applicants, but also to students who study in foreign universities. In case of victory, the participant will be awarded a grant for the remainder of the training;
• If a candidate has been accepted at several universities at once, then you can apply for all programs by choosing a priority university or specialty;
• If the grant provided by the Global Education program is not enough to cover the cost of training, the candidate may request funding from other funds;
• Training should only be full-time;
• Quotas .

There are certain quotas for each area of ​​training, but the competition for a place is so small (for example, less than 100 applications have been submitted so far) that quotas do not play a big role. Currently, grants have been awarded to 7 people. You can see the winners here .
If you already have international test certificates on hand, you can still apply for a scholarship for the academic year 2015/2016.

Examples of programs:
Direction: Computer and Information Sciences (Computer Science)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Level of preparation: Master
Place in Shanghai rating: 4
Link
Direction: Information Security (Informatics)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Level of training: graduate school
Place in Shanghai rating: 4
Link
Direction: Computer and Information Sciences (Computer Science)
University of California, Berkeley (University of California, Berkeley)
Level of preparation: Master
Place in Shanghai rating: 3
Link
Direction: Computer and Information Sciences (Computer Science and Engineering)
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Level of preparation: Master
Place in Shanghai rating: 9
Link
Direction: Computer and Information Sciences (Computer Science)
Stanford University (Stanford University)
Level of preparation: Master
Place in Shanghai rating: 2
Link

This is not the only option to obtain funding for studying abroad. Somewhere you can study for free, for example, in Germany; somewhere there are many grants that do not provide for such conditions as in the Global Education program, for example DAAD, Erasmus Mundus, etc. However, it is worth remembering that the competition for such programs is ten times higher. We will write about such opportunities in the following posts.
Of course, if the Khabrosobosstvo will have comments, comments and suggestions, which will be discussed later, we will be happy.