A scholarship to study is possible! Foreign students willing to get higher or vocational education in Belarus can apply for a scholarship and study for free. But travel expenses, visa and registration, medical insurance, accommodation and meals have to be covered by the student. So you don't happen to get a certain sum of money on hand, but you won't have to pay about $2500 every year — which is a lot, so the scholarship is worth applying for. The application is organized in 3 stages.
Stage 1 — The candidate applies for admission to the study programme
Until the 20th of February, our diplomatic missions all over the world accept application packages from foreign citizens willing to apply for the scholarship. You can check, whether there is a Belarusian diplomatic mission in your country, on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If there is no Belarusian Embassy or Consulate General in your country, don't panic and check the neighbouring countries. They may happen to have one, and you can make a trip there to apply.
Belarusian diplomatic mission will require the following documents from you:
If your documents are concluded in a foreign language, you have to provide their notarized translation in Russian or Belarusian as well.
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For those who want to get a competitive edge, here's who to prioritize (and yes, order is important):
The preliminary lists of candidates will be formed by 15 March by the Diplomatic Mission of the Republic of Belarus and will be submitted to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus.
Stage 2 — Formation of candidate lists
The interdepartmental commission considers preliminary lists of candidates and copies of submitted documents, forms the candidate list. Further educational institutions receive lists of candidates from the interdepartmental commission and organise work on conducting interviews with candidates.
After your application reaches the Ministry of
Education, it will be reviewed by a special committee. Members of the committee
pay a great deal of attention to the academic performance of each candidate. In
order to pass stage 2 successfully, you have to make sure that the average sum
of your marks is no less than 7.5 (in accordance with the Belarusian ten-point
marking scale). In case you have a different marking system, then you will be
required to have a 75% academic performance out of 100%.
By the 1st of May, the committee will conclude the lists of selected candidates and forward them to the educational institutions.
Stage 3 —Interviews and candidate lists
All educational institutions have to organize an
interview with their selected candidates. They will check the level of the
Russian or Belarusian language command, and in case the candidate is applying
for a creative major, like "Art and Design" or "Music
Studies", he will be required to provide samples of his creative works (in
a digital form).
If you get to stage 3, you will be contacted by your
university before the 20th of May. They will set the date for your interview,
which can be conducted distantly.
Educational institutions will be considering the
candidates until the 20th of June. After the decision is taken they notify the
winners right away and send them invitation letters.
If during the interview university representatives consider that your level of Russian/Belarusian is unsatisfactory, don't be upset. The rules allow you to take a course at the Preparatory Department using your own money. And after you improve your language skills you will be able to start your free of charge studies in the next academic year.
Good luck!
