STEP 1: ELIGIBILITY CHECK

1.1 WHICH TARGET GROUP DO YOU BELONG TO?

Target Group 1 (TG1) can be defined as:  African nationals and/or residents registered or having obtained a degree in one of the Higher Education Institutions that is a member of the PAPSSN consortium.

Target Group 2 (TG2) can be defined as:  African nationals and residents (students) registered in Higher Education Institution of African countries not included in the partnership, or whom have obtained a Higher Education Institution degree or equivalent from an institution of these countries.



1.2 WHO CAN APPLY?

Each student target group has its own eligibility criteria. Please check the eligibility criteria of your student target group carefully.

The eligible countries for TG2 are as follows;

  • Central:  Burundi,Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and São Tomé and Principe

  • Eastern:  Comoros,Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania

  • Northern:  Algeria,Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco

  • Southern:  Angola,Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe

  • Western:  Benin,Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo

1.3 WHICH TYPES AND LEVEL OF MOBILITY ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU?

Available scholarship opportunities for the PAPSSN second call are as follows:

TARGET GROUP 1 [Applicants from or graduated at one of the partner Universities]

  • 1x MSc Credit Seeking* (6 months) to Copperbelt University (CBU), Zambia
  • 1x MSc Credit Seeking (6 months) to University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking** (24 months) to BIUST, Botswana
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to Copperbelt University (CBU), Zambia
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • 3x Short term staff mobility (one month to AAU, CBU and UNN) and 4x Long term staff mobility (three months to BIUST, AAU, CBU and UNN).

TARGET GROUP 2 [Applicants not from one of the partner Universities]

  • 1x PhD Degree Seeking (36 months) to University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to BIUST, Botswana
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to Copperbelt University (CBU), Zambia
  • 1x MSc Degree Seeking (24 months) to University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria

1.4 What does OUR SCHOLARSHIPS INCLUDE?

  • Roundtrip flight ticket and visa costs (using a preferred travel agent and calculated against direct linear distance)

  • Participation costs such as tuition fees, registration fees and service fees where applicable

  • Comprehensive Travel Insurance (Health, Accident and Travel)

  • A monthly subsistence allowance for the mobility period

  • Settling in Allowance

  • Research Costs: only eligible to students on mobility for 10 months or more and to students who are registered for a minimum of 2 years. The distribution of funds from this pool shall be decided by the partners on the basis of the actual research needs of selected students. Students will be required to submit a budget for research.

  • An extra allowance corresponding to the monthly subsistence allowances will be paid per academic year to female master students and doctoral candidates, for mobility equal or longer than 2 academic years.

  • A second return ticket in case the mobility is equal or longer than two academic years.

Typeof mobility 

Subsistenceallowance

Settling-inallowance

Allowancesfor female scholarship holders

Participationcosts

Researchcosts 

Insurancecosts 

Travel and visa costs 

(per month) 

Singlepayment

(peracademic year only for mobility equal or longer than 2 academic years) 

(peracademic year only for mobility equal or longer than 10 months) 

(per academic year only for mobility equal or longer than 10 months) 

(per month) 

Master 

600

600

600

3500

600

75

According to travel bands 

Doctorates 

900

900

900

4000

2000

75

Staff 

1200

– 

– 

– 

– 

75

 

Must be paid in full to the scholarship holder 

To be managed by the partnership 

Note: Participation costs are transferred directly to the host institution. Insurance is arranged by the co-ordinating institution on behalf of students. 

Exchange opportunities (Masters and PhD):  Students registered as full-degree students at one of the partner PAPSSN universities within the consortium, spending a short period (6 months minimum) at one of the other institutions in the consortium and returning to their home institution after the exchange period to complete their degree at the home institution. Exchange students will spend their period at the host university as researchers, mainly being engaged in specialised theoretical or methodological training and research projects. Students will closely co-operate with their host and home university supervisors.

Full degree PAPSSN scholarships for Master and Doctoral students:

  In order to be eligible for this scholarship applicants must:

  • Be a national and resident in any of the eligible countries covered by the relevant Target Group; (Students cannot apply to study in an institution within their home country)

  • Be registered/admitted at one of the HEIs within the Partnership at the time of the application for a scholarship (Target Group I) or be registered/admitted in a HEI (not included in the partnership) of a country of the lot or having obtained a HEI degree (or equivalent) by an institution of a country concerned by the lot (Target Group 2);

  • Have sufficient knowledge of the language of the courses in the host Institutions.

Academic and administrative staff mobility:  These opportunities are designed to address the need for professional development of university staff and are limited to staff employed by the consortium partner universities, and aside from the individual opportunity, are aimed at building enhanced mutual institutional knowledge. This is intended to lead to the development of cooperative projects, benchmarking exercises, guest lecturing, curriculum development, sharing of knowledge and academic resources such as libraries and infrastructure and sabbatical research periods are included in this type of mobility. Individual projects will require strong support of the sending institutions and a matching host mentor / academic colleague will be found to support all staff during their mobility period. In addition to the above criteria there may be others defined internally by the partner institution to which you are applying. It is strongly recommended that applicants liaise with the relevant contact persons at the host institution and carefully read the relevant documents in the download section of this website.

STEP 2 – FIELD OF STUDY

Is your field of study eligible and available? Check the PAPSSN  fields of study  and its priority topics.

The complete list of courses and programmes offered at the partners institutions is presented in the PAPSSN prospectus downloadable here .



AVAILABLE FIELDS OF STUDY

PAPSSN will  ONLY  fund scholarship for mobility in the following fields of study and other fields related with Planetary and Space Science and Technology

  • Astronomyand Astrophysics

  • PlanetaryScience and Space exploration

  • Satellitetechnology

  • Earthobservation and remote sensing

  • Astrobiology

Note: PAPSSN scholarships will not fund an application outside the advertised research and academic offer.

STEP 3 – HOST INSTITUTION(S)

Check which partner University offers what you are looking for at the  study and research opportunities . Here you can also verify language and admission requirements. All Host Universities require you to apply for admission through their internal application process. Therefore, you are required to contact your preferred host University before you submit application for PAPSSN scholarship.

A detailed list of programmes offered is presented in the PAPSSN prospectus. Or go to Study and Research Opportunities

NOTE: ALWAYS CONTACT YOUR POTENTIAL SUPERVISOR (LISTED ABOVE AS CONTACT PERSON FOR EACH PROJECT) BEFORE ENTERING YOUR APPLICATION.

STEP 4 – READ THE GUIDELINES

Before entering the application platform, read our application guidelines ( PAPSSN prospectus ) to submit an eligible and successful application form. Find them in the  “ Downloads “section , at the top right of this webpage.

STEP 5 – DOCUMENTS

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

All documents must be provided in English language.

Each Host University may require additional mandatory documents (e.g. Pre-Acceptance Letter, specific certificates, etc.) so you must carefully check respective academic offer where this information has been specified. For some documents you can find the template to be used, in the  Downloads  section on the right.



5.1 MASTER FULL DEGREE

5.1.1 MANDATORY DOCUMENTS:

  • Passport or National ID

  • Bachelor’s certificate 

  • Transcript of Records of your Bachelor studies

  • At most 4-page Curriculum Vitae

  • Motivation letters: 1 per Host University. You can apply up to a maximum of 3 Host Universities. If you apply for 3 Host Universities, you must upload 1 motivation letter per each Host University. The 3 letters must be different!

  • Three (3) reference letters: One of the references must be from your last project supervisor.

  • Previous Intra-Africa/ACP Award Declaration. Downloads  Intra-Africa/ACPAward Declaration.

5.1.2. OTHER DOCUMENTS:

  • Language certificates. These are mandatory only if required by the Host University

  • Disadvantaged group supporting documents. These are mandatory only if you state to belong to a disadvantaged group

  • Target group 2 supporting documents. These are mandatory only if you apply under the Target Group 2 (A letter confirming your registration for postgraduate degree in your home institution).

  • All other documents you consider useful to evaluate your profile.

  • Pre-acceptance Letter issued by the Host University. All Host Universities require a pre-acceptance letter in order to be evaluated for PAPSSN Scholarship. If you do not upload this document when submitting your PAPSSN application, your application will not be considered valid and be excluded.

5.2 Master Exchange

5.2.1 MANDATORY DOCUMENTS FOR ALL TARGET GROUPS:

  • Passport or National ID

  • Proof of registration at a Master programme in your Home Institution

  • Transcript of Records of your Master studies

  • Bachelor’s certificate together with its Transcript of Records

  • At most 4-page Curriculum Vitae

  • Motivation letters: 1 per Host University. You can apply up to a maximum of 3 Host Universities. If you apply to 3 Host Universities you must upload 1 motivation per each Host University. The 3 letters must be different!

  • 2 Reference letters: One reference letter from your home institution supervisor

  • PAPSSN tentative study plan (your proposed mobility project). In the case you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 3 PAPSSN tentative study plans (1 per Host University). You must use the template found in the  Downloads  section,at the top right of this webpage

  • Previous Intra-Africa/ACP Award Declaration. Download  Intra-Africa/ACPAward Declaration PAPSSN Study Plan Template PAPSSN Research Proposal Template


5.2.2. OTHER DOCUMENTS:

  • Language certificates. These are mandatory only if required by the Host University

  • Disadvantaged group supporting documents. These are mandatory only if you state to belong to a disadvantaged group

  • All other documents you consider useful to evaluate your profile

  • Pre-acceptance Letter issued by the Host University. All Host Universities require a pre-acceptance letter in order to be evaluated for PAPSSN Scholarship. If you do not upload this document when submitting your PAPSSN application, your application will not be evaluated.

5.3 Doctorate Full Degree

5.3.1. MANDATORY DOCUMENTS:

  • Passport or National ID

  • Bachelor and Master certificates together with their Transcript of Records.

  • At most 4-page Curriculum Vitae

  • Motivation letters: 1 per Host University. You can apply up to a maximum of 3 Host Universities. If you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 1 motivation per each Host University. The 3 letters must be different!

  • 3 Reference letters: One of the reference letters must be from your Master supervisor

  • PAPSSN Research project proposal. In the case you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 3 PAPSSN Research project proposals (1 per Host University). You must use the template found in the  Downloads  section,at the top right of this webpage 

  • Previous Intra-Africa/ACP Award Declaration.

5.3.2. OTHER DOCUMENTS:

  • Language certificates. These are mandatory only if required by the Host University

  • Disadvantaged group supporting documents. These are mandatory only if you state to belong to a disadvantaged group

  • All other documents you consider useful to evaluate your profile

  • Pre-acceptance Letter issued by the Host University. All Host Universities require a pre-acceptance letter in order to be evaluated for PAPSSN Scholarship. If you do not upload this document when submitting your PAPSSN application, your application will not be evaluated.

5.4 DOCTORATE EXCHANGE

5.4.1. MANDATORY DOCUMENTS:

  • Passport or National ID

  • Proof of registration at a PhD programme in your Home Institution

  • Bachelor and Master certificate together with their Transcript of Records.

  • At most 4-page Curriculum Vitae

  • Motivation letters: 1 per Host University. You can apply up to a maximum of 3 Host Universities. If you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 1 motivation per each Host University. The 3 letters must be different!

  • 3 Reference letters: One of the reference letters must be from your Home Institution supervisor

  • PAPSSN Research project proposal. In the case you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 3 PAPSSN Research project proposals (1 per Host University). You must use the template found in the  Downloads  section,at the top right of this webpage

  • Previous Intra-Africa/ACP Award Declaration.

5.4.2. OTHER DOCUMENTS:

  • Transcript of Records of your PhD studies, if any

  • Language certificates. These are mandatory only if required by the Host University

  • Disadvantaged group supporting documents. These are mandatory only if you state to belong to a disadvantaged group

  • All other documents you consider useful to evaluate your profile

  • Pre-acceptance Letter issued by the Host University. All Host Universities require a pre-acceptance letter in order to be evaluated for PAPSSN Scholarship. If you do not upload this document when submitting your PAPSSN application, your application will not be evaluated.

5.5 ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF EXCHANGE

5.5.1. MANDATORY DOCUMENTS:

  • Passport or National ID

  • Proof of registration. This a certificate issued by your Home University stating that you are an Academic/Administrative Staff employed at your Home University.

  • Full Curriculum Vitae

  • For Academic staff only: list of main publications, research projects, titles and awards received

  • For Administrative staff only: description of the position covered, tasks and responsibilities

  • Motivation letters: 1 per Host University. You can apply up to a maximum of 3 Host Universities. If you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 1 motivation per each Host University. The 3 letters must be different!

  • Reference letters: at least one issued by the Head of your Department/Office responsible to approve your leave.

  • PAPSSN Work plan proposal. In the case you apply for 3 Host Universities you must upload 3 PAPSSN work plan proposals (1 per Host University). You must use the template found in the  Downloads  section,at the top right of this webpage 

  • Previous Intra-Africa/ACP Award Declaration.

5.5.2. OTHER DOCUMENTS:

  • Language certificates. These are mandatory only if required by the Host University

  • Disadvantaged group supporting documents. These are mandatory only if you state to belong to a disadvantaged group

  • All other documents you consider useful to evaluate your profile 

  • Pre-acceptance Letter issued by the Host University. All Host Universities require a pre-acceptance letter in order to be evaluated for PAPSSN Scholarship. If you do not upload this document when submitting your PAPSSN application, your application will not be evaluated.

STEP 6 SELECTION PROCESS

Get informed about the  selection process and criteria as outlined in the PAPSSN prospectus.

6.1. ADMINISTRATIVE CHECK .

Applications will pass through a preliminary screening whose goal will be to check the formal eligibility of the candidatures:

  • Completeness: all the mandatory documents have been uploaded by the candidate in her/his official PAPSSN application form.

  • Eligibilityrequirements: all the eligibility requirements have been met by the candidate:

    • nationality;

    • formerIntra-Africa scholarship;

    • other general requirement that the partnership would like to set.

  • Target Group: the candidate did apply for the correct Target group. In the case the candidate did not, she/he will be moved to the correct Target Group.

  • DisadvantagedGroup: in the case the candidate has declared to belong to a disadvantaged group supporting documents shall have been provided and will be checked by the Gender and Disadvantaged groups Committee.

The administrative check will be assessed upon the following application documents:

  • Informationprovided in the application form

  • Documentsuploaded in the application

In addition to the documents needed to assess the academic eligibility and quality of the candidate, the following documents are also required:

  • Passport

  • Declarationsregarding former Intra-Africa scholarship

  • Disadvantagedgroup supporting documents

6.2. APPEAL PROCEDURE

  • The PAPSSN general secretariat at the Central Management Unit will send out a “rejection notification” to those candidates who did not pass the eligibility check with 1-week time to appeal against the decision under well justified reason for appealing.

  • The Selection Committee will support PAPSSN general secretariat through the appeal procedure.

6.3. ACADEMIC ELIGIBILITY & QUALITY.

Admission office and Academic supervisors at the Host universities coordinated by the PAPSSN Local Management Unit will be in charge for this task:

  • ELIGIBILITY:Checking whether the candidate meets the admission requirements (including language requirements) of the programme s/he applied for – Actor: Admissionoffice

  • QUALITY:Performing the academic assessment of candidates and ranking applications against the following criteria – Actor: Academic supervisors

CRITERIA 1 – Academic background and candidate profile:

  • Coherence of the academic background and profile of the candidate with the programme selected

  • Academic performance during previous/current studies at the Home university

CRITERIA 2 – PAPSSN project proposal and motivation:

  • The mobility project submitted by the candidate (learning agreement; research agreement; work plan) is appropriate with the mobility opportunity the candidate applied for

  • The motivation of the candidate is strong and relevant with PAPSSN objectives and with the mobility opportunity the candidate applied for

When performing the academic assessment, the academic supervisors may decide to schedule interviews with the candidates.

The academic eligibility and quality will be assessed upon the following application documents:

  • Diplomas of previous university studies

  • Transcriptof Records of previous university studies

  • CV including list of publications, conferences attended, etc.

  • Reference letters

  • Language certificate, if required by the Host university

  • Motivationletter

  • Mobility project

    • Mastercredit seeking – courses  learning agreement

    • Mastercredit seeking – research  research proposal

    • Masterdegree seeking – courses  research proposal

    • Masterdegree seeking – research  research proposal

    • Doctoratecredit seeking  research proposal

    • Doctoratedegree seeking  research proposal

    • Staff  Work plan

6.4. APPEAL PROCEDURE

  • The PAPSSN general secretariat at the Central Management Unit will send out a “rejection notification” to those candidates who did not pass the Academic eligibility and quality within 1-week and give time to appeal against the decision under well justified reason for appealing.

  • The Selection Committee will support PAPSSN general secretariat through the appeal procedure.

6.5. DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE.

The PAPPAN Selection committee will distribute the scholarship available to the candidates applying the following criteria:

CRITERIA 1 – Academic quality results and ranking provided by the Host universities

CRITERIA 2 – The distribution shall adhere as long as possible with the PAPSSN project as approved by the EACEA

CRITERIA 3 – Crosscutting issues such as favoring the participation of disadvantaged groups; fair balance among countries of origin (especially for target group 2); others.

During this PHASE 4 the Selection committee is also in charge to assess candidatures in cases of doubts among candidates.

STEP 7 – APPLICATION

If you have successfully carried out steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 you are ready to apply, enter the  application form . 

STEP 8 – WHAT NEXT IF YOU WIN A PAPSSN SCHOLARSHIP?

Find here a general overview of what will happen in the case you are awarded a PAPSSN scholarship.

8.1 – SCHOLARSHIP ACCEPTANCE

You will be sent a Nomination/Award Letter via email and asked to accept or reject PAPSSN scholarship within a certain deadline by sending an Acceptance Letter. Other documents to accompany the Nomination/Award Letter to be sent to you are

  1. Pre-departure Information  (Visa guidelines),

  2. Model Mobility Agreement for Staff ,

  3. Model Learning Agreement for Degree Seeking Mobility ,

  4. Model Learning Agreement for Credit Seeking Mobility .

Please find the template for each document i, ii, iii, iv and v in the  Download Section . All PAPSSN scholars will have to agree the starting date directly with the Host University/Supervisor.


8.2 – GET INFORMED

You will contact your Host Institution in order to receive pre-departure information about the university, the town where you will live, about how to organize your mobility and what are the documents to be produced before leaving according to the immigration laws of the hosting countries (e.g. VISA) and the admission procedure of the hosting universities (e.g. any specific document that is mandatory for the enrolment and to be produced in your home country).

8.3 – GET PREPARED:

You will have to obtain the main following documents:

  • Immigration documents : VISA for Study reason or any other immigration documents as required by the hosting country according to the national laws. Read more about VISA in our  FAQ section and Pre-Departure Information.

  • Admission documents : you may be required to produce official documents in your home country in order to register at your host university. Read more about it in our  Pre-DepartureInformation .

  • Logistics : you will organize with the help of your prospective Host University the logistics of your stay abroad: accommodation, scholarship management, classes, integration to the university life, etc.

  • PAPSSN documents : Exchange students and Staff will have to complete and get signed appropriate documents. Read more about these documents in our FAQ section.

  • Flight and insurance : The PAPSSN Team will book and buy your flight and your insurance, you will not have to cover these costs directly.

8.4 – ENJOY YOUR MOBILITY

You will travel to your Hosting country and university. You will have to attend academic activities and perform successfully. You will moreover enjoy all the other aspects of an academic mobility:

  • Live in an international academic context

  • Get in contact with different teaching and research methods and facilities

  • Live and travel around a different African country

  • Meet other students

  • Meet a different culture and habits

STEP 9 – CANCELLATION OF STUDIES

Important to note in the event of  interrupted studies  or in the case of  drop-out .


The scholarship can be put on hold if the student must temporarily leave the host institution following duly justified and well documented reasons (i.e. illness etc.). In that case, the scholarship payment must be interrupted until he/she has returned to the host institution and can actively participate in the activities. If despite the temporary absence, the scholarship holder can catch up on the study/research without extending the originally agreed scholarship duration, the monthly allowances corresponding to the period of interruption could be paid to the candidate if agreed among the partners and notified to the Agency (EACEA). If the reasons are due to force majeure, the absence of the scholarship holder would lead to an extension of the originally agreed eligibility period in order to finalise the mobility concerned. Hence, the Coordinator must send to the Agency a duly substantiated request to extend the eligibility period of the Grant Agreement in question. This request will be treated as an official amendment.

If the interruption is due to academic reasons, as students have to study or carry out research or other activities for a short period at the home country or at other countries which are not the ones of the institutions included in the partnership, the monthly allowance is not paid for this period.

For no reasons, the mobility can be extended beyond the limit of the project set for the 31 st of December 2025.

Mobility flows are not allowed between institutions placed in the country of origin/nationality of the individual(s) concerned.

The interruption can take place only after 6 consecutive months of study at host institutions.

The mobility for staff can be split in several shorter periods of minimum one month each, but in this case only one returns ticket will be covered by PAPSSN.

If a scholarship holder decides to withdraw before or during the study period, the Partnership has the possibility to replace her/him from the reserve list and within the deadlines for start of mobility of the respective cohort. If such replacement is not possible, the remaining monthly allowance and participation costs could be reallocated to another scholarship holder.