TOP BEST INTERNATIONAL UNDERGRADUATE MEDICINE SCHOLARSHIPS
Medical education is one of the longest and most expensive types of university education with some courses going for as long as 7 years and tuition running into hundreds of thousands of dollars even without considering any other medical school related expenses and with the various cost saving tips that are available. Thankfully, scholarships do exist that allow you to lessen the financial burden associated with med school and focusing on churning out good results. This is a list of the top international medical school scholarships available.
- Japanese Government MEXT Scholarship including Medicine degrees
The MEXT Scholarship stands for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho in Japanese) scholarship that is offered by the Japanese Government that is offered to international students in a wide variety of programs offered at Japanese universities including degrees in medicine, veterinarian medicine and pharmacy. The wide selection of programs funded and the numerous countries eligible for obtaining this scholarship makes it a very competitive and sought-after scholarships internationally.
It is one of the very few international scholarships that caters for a 7-year undergraduate degree, but also supports pharmacy and veterinary medicine. Although not an absolute requirement, knowledge of the Japanese language is considered a key contributor to obtaining the scholarship. The scholarship has been around for several years and has allowed nationals from a wide selection of countries both developed and developing to access quality Japanese tertiary education.
The scholarship is quite comprehensive with what it provides enabling the successful candidate to focus on their studies. Apart from covering travel to and from the home country to Japan, it also covers tuition fees, a monthly living stipend and other related academic costs. Being all-inclusive makes it one of the more attractive international scholarships out there. The scholarship is available every year with the application cycle usually ending later in the year for admission into the following academic year.
- Islamic Development Bank Scholarships for Member Countries and Muslim Communities in Non-Member Countries
Islamic Development Bank Scholarships for Muslim Communities in Non-Member Countries is an award that is provided by the Islamic Development Bank. It has expanded the number of countries eligible for the award by not only catering for member countries of the IsDB but also for Muslim communities in countries that are not signatories.
The IsDB is an international organization that’s main responsibility is facilitating economic and social development in the Islamic world represented by Member countries as well as Muslim communities in nonmember states. Human resource development is one of the key areas of focus identified by the IsDB as a driver in economic development as outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs and the President of the IsDB’s five year transformative program.
The scholarship includes both graduate and undergraduate study and is providing means for outstanding applicants the opportunity to obtain a high quality of education financed by the scholarship. The scholarship supports several programs in various fields of study including sustainable agriculture, education, education for sustainable development, climate change, energy, responsible growth, waste management, green chemistry, biodiversity, plastic pollution and microplastics, water and hygiene, health, ICT for development, Innovation and infrastructure development, Islamic Economics, Finance and Banking as well as social sciences fields.
The award entitles successful applicants to a monthly stipend commensurate with the cost of living of the country of study, tuition fees, the cost of medical treatment at a government hospital, a return economy class return airfare that will cater for travel to the country of study as well as return to one’s home country upon completion of study and installation and equipment allowance for the students selected to study abroad at partnered universities/countries.
Other eligibility criteria include being admitted to a to study at a top government or public university in one’s home country or at a university that is in a member stat of the IsDB in an approved field of study. Some of the countries that have an agreement with the IsDB include Morocco, Malaysia, Turkey, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan.
It is one of the few scholarship awards that caters to the niche of Muslim nations and communities providing and is one of the most recognizable.
- 2020 TaiwanICDF International Higher Education Scholarship Program
The Taiwan ICDF International Higher Education Scholarship is an annual award that is provided by the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund whose headquarters are in Taipei. Their focus is providing support for various bilateral and multilateral development projects. The organization has a broad scope with a focus on four key areas: humanitarian assistance, lending and investment, international education and training, and technical cooperation.
The scholarship falls under its international education and training mandate providing a comprehensive scholarship in a wide variety of programs at several reputable universities in Taiwan.
Medicine is one of the programs that is also provided for in the scholarship for international students. It not only solely consists of undergraduate programs, but also programs at Masters and PhD level. The award consists of full scholarship, including return airfare on economy class for the most direct flights to and from Taiwan, housing in student accommodation, tuition and credit fees, insurance which include student safety, accident, and medical insurance for the entirety of the program, textbook costs and a monthly allowance that increases depending on the level of study that is being pursued.
The scholarship is available to several countries except nationals of the Republic of China. The application period usually runs from January 1st to March 15th of each year.
- Stipendum Hungaricum Scholarship
The Stipendum Hungaricum scholarship is a scholarship that is provided by the Hungarian government to an array of nationalities. It was created in 2013 to support the internationalization of Hungarian tertiary education and had a positive effect in this regard with over 5000 international students being accepted annually into Hungarian universities through the award.
Several courses are supported in numerous universities in Hungary, including medicine which can be found in prestigious universities that have ranked highly in international university rankings such as Semmelweis University. Language of instruction at some of the medical schools include English and German, which is another draw for international applicants.
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