Vladimir Kondrachuk, Master of Public Administration, International Institute of Public Administration (Paris), received a scholarship for master's studies:
– I started preparing for admission to a French university and for obtaining the scholarship around September, a year before the start of studies in France. First of all, I asked myself three simple questions: “What do I currently know and can do?”, “What do I want to achieve in the near future (a perspective of 3-5 years ahead)?” and “What do I need to do for that?”. If the answer to the third question clearly indicates the need for additional training in France, then consider that 80% of the motivational letter (one of the documents for obtaining the scholarship) is already there. That's how it turned out for me as well.
I became interested in a career in public service and understood that for success I needed a wide range of knowledge in the functioning of the state apparatus. And France, precisely, has a deep historical foundation and traditions in creating and developing its own state, so I understood that I could gain this knowledge there. That's how I justified the choice of the country for study in the motivational letter for myself and the jury members.
Fortunately, it was not difficult for me to choose an educational institution and justify its choice in the motivational letter, because my university is the leading one in my chosen field of study. However, for other students, this may take a good “chunk” of time. From the experience of former scholarship holders, I know: it is advisable to choose about five universities and send documents there to receive a positive response (a document that confirms the university's interest in the candidate for admission, needed for the scholarship).
After receiving the “green light” from the alma mater, you need to decide on one of them and justify your choice in the letter. For this, you must mention the university's ranking, its scientific and other achievements. Also, if possible, you can find information about its successful VIP graduates. I had to justify my choice of country, university, and specialty more clearly when writing the study project. In it, I clearly outlined a specific plan of professional development for the jury members. And at the end, I indicated that after returning to Ukraine, I see myself as an expert in the field of public administration.
I was invited to it after they gave the go-ahead on the documents. Based on all the documents I had prepared, I wrote myself a small presentation on a sheet of paper for 2-3 minutes, which I rehearsed several times the night before. I also tried to highlight all my achievements in life. There is no need to be shy about “promoting” yourself. Otherwise, the scholarship recipient will simply not be remembered and is unlikely to receive the scholarship. Another important point: I knew that jury members really like to ask questions about knowledge of current trends in the chosen field of study both in Ukraine and in France. Therefore, long before the interview, I started reading French newspapers and following the latest events in the field of public administration. In the end, I managed to obtain the scholarship.
Maxim Yurzhenko, Doctor of Physics at Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, received a scholarship to conduct part of the research for writing a dissertation (Eiffel Doctorat scholarship):
– My future supervisor in France advised me to apply for the Eiffel Doctorat scholarship (description of the scholarship at www.egide.asso.fr). I met her at a conference in Poland, where I went from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, where I was studying for my PhD. It turned out that this woman had repeatedly collaborated with scientists from my Institute and, in particular, with my Ukrainian supervisor on major international scientific projects starting from 1997.
My main task was to correctly prepare all the documents for the scholarship. So, the motivational letter. The first time I wrote it and took it to my Ukrainian supervisor, he made many corrections. It turned out that the main mistake was that I was too immersed in the scientific goals of my stay in France. For example, I described in detail all the research methods that I could apply. That is wrong. You need to express yourself clearly and plainly so that even a non-specialist in the field can understand what the scholarship holder will be doing.
Another conclusion, based on the advice of my mentor: the French are interested in the usefulness of cooperation with the scholarship holder in a broad sense. Therefore, in the letter, I emphasized that at conferences we would be able to present joint research results, and also that my stay in France would positively affect relations between my institute and Université Claude Bernard and further strengthen scientific cooperation between Ukraine and France. Also, the motivational letter clearly showed that my stay in France is a logical continuation of my research path (this is important): as I already said, the two scientific institutions have extensive experience of joint work that needed to be deepened.
I played on my own uniqueness. After all, in Ukraine, my institute is one of the few scientific organizations conducting developments in this field. This, I believe, helped attract the attention of the jury. In general, to stand out, every scholarship holder needs to recall all their achievements, starting from school. For example, I talked about winning the All-Ukrainian Olympiad in Informatics and winning the All-Ukrainian Junior Academy of Sciences competition in physics.
By the way, I rewrote the letter twice. When my Ukrainian mentor had no more comments, I forwarded it to my future French supervisor, who also made small edits. And finally, the writing of the scientific project. It came easier to me – there I was able to focus more on describing (in accessible language!) my research goals. The result – victory and receiving a monthly scholarship of 1400 euros.
Assistance in creating the material was provided by CampusFrance bureau scholarship coordinator Oksana Lando, CampusFrance coordinator Olga Dorosh, and President of the «Ukrainian Association of Graduates of French Educational Programs» Volodymyr Kondrachuk.
Lyudmila KOLB.
Based on materials from the newspaper «Segodnya».