Government of Ireland - International Education Scholarships 2021/2022

Want to study in the prestigious institutes of Ireland? The government of Ireland in collaboration with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is offering International Education Scholarships 2021/2022 for the students from non-EU/EEA countries; to study in Ireland for a period of one year.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is 5pm on Friday 26 March 2021 (Irish Time). Late applications will not be accepted.

International male and female candidates with high caliber can apply through the online application portal before the deadline and avail of the Government of Ireland – International Education Scholarships 2021/2022. The scholarship is available for undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. programs in recognized and authorized institutes of Ireland.

Benefits for students

Scholarships must be regarded as highly desirable and value-adding to individuals’ subsequent lives and careers. In view of this, the GOI-IES will be awarded:
• to high caliber higher education students from non-EU/EEA countries;
• to study in Ireland for a period of one year

Details of Government of Ireland Scholarships Scheme

The scheme is managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science. Following a competitive process based on an annual call for proposals from individual applicants, the HEA will approve a defined number of scholarships under the scheme to successful applicants.
Government of Ireland International Education Scholarships will be awarded to high-caliber students from non-EU/EEA countries to study full-time in Ireland for a period of one year. The following are the terms and conditions that will apply:

The HEA will award a scholarship fund to the student (through the HEI that the student is attending) amounting to €10,000 for one study year. This fund is directed at covering student costs and living expenses. The scholarship may be for:
- the final year of an undergraduate programme;
- one year of a taught master’s degree programme or;
- one year of a research programme (i.e. one year of a 2-year research master or a 3-4-year PhD programme).

The scholarship stipend will be transferred to the host higher education institution (HEI) of the successful student in two payments of €5,000. The HEI will then put in place a system to transfer the funds to the scholarship awardee.
The HEI will be required to give a FULL fee waiver to the student for the scholarship year (i.e. tuition fee and registration charge are waived). This is the minimum matching funding requirement that institutions will be required to make to the scholarship scheme.
It is expected that a total of 60 scholarships will be funded by the Government of Ireland International Education Scholarships for the academic year 2021/2022.
Applicants must have a domiciliary of origin1 not equal to the EU/EEA, United Kingdom, or Switzerland. Please refer to our FAQ for a further explanation regarding the domiciliary of origin.
Scholarships may be approved for study across all disciplines, subject to the availability of places. The HEA will seek to ensure that, overall, there is gender-balance in the cohort of students to whom scholarships are awarded.
Due to the very large number of applications, it will not be possible to give feedback to unsuccessful candidates.
Applications are welcome from under-represented cohorts.
Successful Scholars are to commence studies in September/October 2021. Later enrolments will only be considered in relation to Ph.D. awardees.
Students and their host HEIs may be required to attend a welcoming event for GOI-IES awardees around this time. An official awarding event for GOIIES Scholars will be held in April 2022.

Candidate profile

Possess excellence (academically, personally, professionally, creatively);
Excellent communication skills;
Extra curriculum activities (for example humanitarian work; politics local, national, international; arts; sports);
Possess strong rationale for pursuing their study in Ireland that indicates
how a GOI-IES fits into their longer-term goals.

Eligible Irish Higher Education Institutions

Applicants will need to apply for admission to a relevant Bachelor, Master, or Ph.D. programme offered by an eligible Higher Education Institution as per that HEI’s admission procedures. Applicants are expected to have a conditional or final offer of admission to the HEI at the time of application and will be required to submit a copy of the same. Should an applicant be in receipt of more than one offer, separate applications may be submitted for each course offer. Final offers will be subject to admission to the relevant HEI. Applicants should make inquiries directly to the relevant institution prior to submission of an
application to the HEA.

Evaluation Criteria

Eligible students are invited to submit applications to the HEA via the official online application process at this link. A marking system (total 100 marks) is part of the call with the relevant scores shown in brackets after the key selection criteria.
The applications must cover the following, as requested in the online application tool:
• Academic qualifications, achievements and/or work experience (40marks)
• Personal Statement (refer to the Candidate profile). Applicants will be required to demonstrate:
– the benefit of becoming a GOI-IES Scholar; to themselves (personally and professionally), to Ireland, as well as their country of origin. (15 marks);
– how they will extend themselves beyond their project/studies to become actively involved in Irish society in order to maximize their academic/cultural exchange experience and to raise awareness of the GOI-IES scheme in Ireland and beyond (15 marks);
– the extent to which they have a long-term interest in Ireland and how they will promote links with Ireland during their time as Scholars and also after as Alumni (15 marks).
• Two references uploaded via the online application portal (please note that the HEA is not able to accept references submitted via email or other sources outside of the online application portal) (15 marks)

Assessment Process

The HEA will establish an independent International Assessment Panel to evaluate the applications received. The Assessment Panel will consider the extent to which the applications meet the criteria of the 2021 Call as outlined above.
All applications will be assessed solely on the basis of the material provided to the HEA at the time of submission.
The HEA will give priority in awarding this scholarship to those students who are not in receipt of alternative scholarships or other funding support.
Applications will be first reviewed by the HEA for eligibility. The HEA will then share details of the applications with the relevant HEI from which the scholarship applicant has a conditional or final offer(s) of a place. The HEI will
provide the HEA with feedback in relation to the awarding of the scholarships and its alignment in regards to its institutional international strategic objectives for
- country of origin of applicants;
- proposed study cycle (Bachelor, Master, PhD) of applicants;
- field of study of applicants;
- Institutional capacity
Applications will then be sent for independent remote evaluation to the Assessment Panel members.
The Assessment Panel members will allocate scores as per the evaluation criteria detailed above. Applicants are advised to familiarise themselves fully with the evaluation criteria prior to making an application to the scheme.
The Assessment Panel will submit their independent evaluations prior to coming together to discuss the ranked list of applications.
The Assessment Panel will then arrive at an overall judgement of standard and make final recommendations to the HEA. An independent audit processor will be present at the Assessment Panel meeting.
The top twelve ranked applications will be automatically funded on the basis of excellence, as they represent the top 20% of the 60 awards to be funded.
In addition to the ranked position of the applications, the remaining 48 awards will be allocated with consideration to:
- Institutional (university, technological university, institute of technology etc.), the field of study, level of study and geographical spread;
- potential social/development benefit that might accrue to the country of origin in areas like education, social work, health promotion, and infrastructural development;
- the under-representation of women and men in certain disciplines in which they are traditionally under-represented.
Only applications that meet a minimum threshold can be considered for the awarding of a scholarship (60 of 100 marks).
The HEA’s decision on whether to award a scholarship under this scheme is final.
Each HEI that has been named in a successful application will be contacted to confirm that they are in a position to provide the required matching funding. Confirmation of this by the HEI constitutes its agreement to, and acceptance of, the Call for Application’s terms. HEIs are encouraged to examine the possibility of philanthropic contributions to support the scholarships, or the possibility to re-brand existing institutional scholarships in order to augment the total number of awards available.

Submission of Applications

The Call for Applications will issue 8 February 2021 and the centralized application system (link) is now live and accepting applications.
The closing date for receipt of applications is 5 pm on Friday 26 March 2021 (Irish Time). Late applications will not be accepted.
The application should be submitted via this link.
Any questions regarding the call for applications should be submitted to GOI-IES@hea.ie no later than 26 March 2021. Telephone queries cannot be accommodated.
The HEA will advise the applicants and the HEIs of the outcome of the evaluation process by 1 June 2021 at the earliest.

Eligible Institutions for Call for Applications 2021

Scholarships will only be approved for programmes that lead to a higher education award that is included in the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) at Levels 8 to 10, which is made by one of the following awarding bodies:
• Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
• Technological Universities and Institutes of Technology with delegated authority to make awards
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• Irish Universities

The following is a list of all institutions eligible under the GOI-IES 2021 program:

• Athlone Institute of Technology
• College of Computing Technology, Dublin
• Dublin Business School
• Dublin City University
• Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and Technology
• Dundalk Institute of Technology
• Galway Business School
• Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology
• Griffith College, Dublin
• ICD Business School, Dublin
• Independent College, Dublin
• Institute of Technology, Carlow
• Institute of Technology, Sligo
• Letterkenny Institute of Technology
• Limerick Institute of Technology
• Mary Immaculate College, Limerick
• Maynooth University
• Munster Technological University
• National College of Art and Design, Dublin
• National College of Ireland, Dublin
• National University of Ireland, Galway
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• Technological University Dublin
• Trinity College Dublin
• University College Cork
• University College Dublin
• University of Limerick
• Waterford Institute of Technology