Scarce Skills Development Fund Programme

Masters and Doctoral Scholarships for 2013

1. Background

The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) commits grant funds from the National Skills Fund (NSF) towards the Scarce Skills Development Fund Programme (SSDF), which targets students. The NRF is responsible for the management of the SSDF programme.

2. Objectives

The programme supports students and fellows at South African higher education institutions (HEI's) and science councils. The objectives of the SSDF programme are to:

• Increase the number and quality of South African postgraduate students in specified scarce skills areas;
• In conjunction with the higher education sector and industry, support the development of postgraduate courses and research to meet specific needs of the country.

3. Scarce Skills Areas

Since the inception of the programme, the following disciplines have been supported:

Management:

Financial Management

Financial sector:

Accounting, Auditing, Statistics, Actuarial Science

Biological sciences:

Biotechnology

Physical sciences:

Mathematical Sciences, Physics, Geology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Chemistry

Engineering (all fields)

Sector specific: 

Agricultural Sciences, Transportation Studies, Tourism, Demography

4. Value of the Award

The value of the awards are indicated below:

Master's scholarship-holders may apply for a travel grant of up to R 10 000 which can be used to cover the costs of local conference attendance, workshop attendance or a visit to a laboratory during the tenure of the award.

Doctoral scholarship-holders may apply for a travel grant of up to R 15 000 for local travel; and R40 000 towards international costs for conference or workshop attendance or visit a laboratory during the tenure of the award.

5. Criteria for Selection

5.1. Eligibility

The following eligibility criteria listed below applies:

• Scholarships are open to only bona fide South African citizens with an honours or master's degree.
• Applicants should have obtained an aggregate of at least 60% in their previous degree.
• Applicants must have obtained their previous degree in the minimum prescribed period. An exception is made for Black (African, Coloured and Indian) students who may have taken an additional year to complete their previous degree.
• Applicants that already hold a degree at the level for which they are applying are not eligible.
• Full time employees of Higher Education Institutions are not eligible to apply.
• All NRF scholarships awards should be help as primary funding towards the research study.
• Scholarships must not be held simultaneously with a bursary/ scholarship from any other government or NRF source or NRF administered source.
• Scholarship-holders are allowed to hold non- binding supplementary grants or emoluments to the institutional capped value for the level of study.

Master's Scholarships R 60 000 p. a

Doctoral Scholarships R 90 000 p.a

• Scholarship-holders must not hold full-time salaried employment during the tenure of the award.
• Scholarship-holders will be allowed to undertake a maximum of 12 hours of teaching, tutorials, assistance or demonstrations duties per week on average during the year of study and may be remunerated for these duties, provided that they are reimbursed at a rate not exceeding the normal institution tariff for services rendered.

5.2 Funding Proposals

The management of the programme will be conducted by the NRF who is mandated by the National Research Foundation Act, Act No.23 of 1998 to promote and support research. The NRF will select high caliber scholars and fellows on the basis of merit (qualifications, experience, research outputs and proposed research) through selection panels employing NRF peer review processes. Despite the obligation to meet race and gender targets, quality remains the desired outcome.

5.3. Equity

In line with the national imperative of equity and redress, the programme prioritises support for appropriately qualified blacks, women and disabled students without sacrificing quality.

Scholarships and Fellowship funds are allocated with every attempt being made to meet the programme targets. This call will give preference to candidates meeting the gender and equity targets (listed below) of the programme.

• Black students (African, Coloured, Indian) 85%
• Women students (African, Coloured, Indian, White) 54%
• Students with disabilities (African, Coloured, Indian, White ) 4%

6. How to apply for funding

Applicants can apply by following the steps below:

• Applications must be submitted through an online application process to the National Research Foundation (NRF).
• Applicants can apply for the NRF- Scarce Skills Masters and Doctoral Scholarship Call for 2013 by accessing the link: https://nrfsubmission.nrf.ac.za/
• Register/ Login using your ID number and password.
• Select create new application from the list of existing calls.
• Select the call for which you are applying to: NRF- Scarce Skills Masters and Doctoral Scholarship Call for 2013
• Remember to complete all sections of the application.
• Please attach the necessary documents in one PDF file in the following order: ID document and certified academic transcripts.
• Should you not follow the guidelines for attaching the necessary documents your application will not be considered.
• Remember to submit your application on completion.
• Complete applications will go to the host university for verification before being forwarded to the NRF for further processing.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• Applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be considered (please refer to call document for details on eligibility for the NRF-Scarce Skills Masters and Doctoral programme).
• Please contact the university post graduate office or research office if you have any queries.
• The closing date for submitting applications is 31 August 2012.
• Please take note of your institutions internal closing dates as these may be set before the actual call closing date.

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter