During Turkey’s negotiation process for full membership to the European Union (EU), there is a need for individuals in every segment of the society who can closely follow the EU-related disciplines and who are specialised on these subjects. In accordance with this need, the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme, a project funded by the EU, aims at increasing the number of experts in the EU field and supporting Turkey’s administrative capacity building efforts for the effective implementation of the EU acquis within the framework of Turkey’s negotiation process for the full membership to the EU.
The first two phases (1990-2002 and 2002-2006) of the Jean Monnet Scholarship Program were conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey. The Scholarship Program provided education opportunities to its first scholars in EU member countries for the 1990-1991 academic year. As of the 2007-2008 academic year, the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme has been conducted by the Directorate for EU Affairs in cooperation with the Central Finance and Contracts Unit and the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey.
Following the ratification of the relevant Financing Agreement signed between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the EU, the preparation stage for the Jean Monnet Scholarship Program begins. The entire process, from the publication of the Scholarship Announcement to the signing of a contract with the candidates who are entitled for a scholarship, is carried out in cooperation with the Directorate for EU Affairs, the Central Finance and Contracts Unit and the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey.
Lead Institution of the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme is the Directorate for EU Affairs and the Department of Project Implementation under the DEUA as the Implementing Authority is responsible for the technical implementation, management and sustainability of the Scholarship Program.
The application, management of the tender evaluation, contract signature and payment processes of the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme are under the responsibility of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit. The Central Finance and Contracts Unit is also the Contracting Authority of the Scholarship Programme. The scholarship contracts are signed between the Central Finance and Contracts Unit and the scholars.
The Directorate for EU Affairs and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit conduct all of the above mentioned and below detailed actions with the endorsement of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey.
The “Announcement Package”, which is prepared separately for each academic year of the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme, gets published on the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, Directorate for EU Affairs, Delegation of the European Union to Turkey and Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme websites during the last quarter of each year.
The applications received for the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme are subject to below evaluation steps:
1. Administrative Compliance and Eligibility Check Step:
The Evaluation Committee checks all of the received applications on the basis of the list of application documents and the requirements for these documents as detailed in the “Announcement” for each sector (“public”, “private” or “university”) from which the candidates can apply from. In case any of the application documents is missing or does not satisfy the requirements stated in the Announcement, the application may be rejected.
Candidates who successfully pass the administrative compliance and eligibility check step are invited to the ”Written Exam”, the 2nd step of the evaluation process, via e-mail. Similarly, the applicants who are not recommended for further evaluation are also informed via e-mail.
2. Written Exam:
In the Written Exam, various questions related to the EU acquis chapter, from which the applicant selected in the Application Form, European Union and EU-Turkey relations can be asked. In addition to these questions, the applicants will also be required to write a short letter of intent during the written exam regarding the academic programmes they are planning to study and relevance of these programmes with the EU acquis chapter indicated at the time of application.
The written exam papers are evaluated by independent assessors who are competent in the fields of European Union, EU-Turkey relations and the EU acquis chapters, based on the answer keys prepared by the Evaluation Committee. Following the completion of the assessments by the independent assessors, the Evaluation Committee checks the evaluations and prepares “Main” and “Reserve” lists for each sector (public, private and university) based on the exam score rankings.
Candidates in the “Main” and “Reserve” lists are informed via e-mail following the completion of the evaluation process. Similarly, the applicants who have failed the written exam are also informed via e-mail.
3. Programme Approval and Placement Process:
Initially, the candidates in the “main” lists are invited to the “Programme Approval and Placement Process”. Those in the “Reserve” lists are only invited, following the withdrawal of a candidate in the main list, based on their ranking.
“Programme Approval Form” and “Unconditional Offer letters” are requested from the candidates who are entitled to receive the scholarship in order to complete the placement process. Applicants should identify the eligible host countries and the institutions in which they would like to pursue their academic studies while the application and evaluation processes are going on. It is solely the applicants’ responsibility to get unconditional offer letters from the academic programmes. Durations of the academic studies should be minimum 3 months maximum 12 months.
In this process, the compatibility of the programme content of the scholar and the EU acquis in the first place is controlled by the Directorate for EU Affairs, which is the Implementation Authority of the Scholarship Program. Scholars whose academic programmes are approved by the Directorate for EU Affairs are invited for contract signature.
4. Signature of a Contract:
In order to prepare the contracts to be signed between the scholars and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, the contract documents listed in the Announcement needs to be submitted. After obtaining the relevant approvals, the scholars are invited for contact signature. Following the completion of the signatures by both parties, the payment process begins.
The scholars are responsible from implementation of the contracts in line with their academic programmes and successful completion of their studies.