DUO-Belgium/Flanders: 1. General Description
DUO-Belgium/Flanders Fellowship Programme was established in 2011 with the aim of
promoting exchanges of students between Belgium/Flanders and 4 Asian countries (China, India,
South Korea and Vietnam) on a balanced and permanent basis. In this respect,
DUO-Belgium/Flanders requires that a PAIR (two persons) of students will be exchanged in the
framework of a cooperative project. Definition of ‘student’:
●
Undergraduate (bachelor) and graduate (master) students who are currently enrolled in
universities or university colleges in Flanders or one of the four Asian countries.
Nationality of the student is not a criterion.
N.B.: All applicants should maintain their “student status” from the time of application until the
end of their exchange period.
1. 1 Eligibility
Due to the unique nature of this program, in order to be eligible, the exchange project needs to
fulfill all five requirements below:
1) A higher education institution in Belgium/Flanders(home institution) and an educational
institution in Asia (host institution) have established an academic cooperative agreement or
have the intention to set up a new cooperation agreement;
2) The Flemish higher education institution, as well as the Asian partner cannot ask tuition
fees to the students for the exchanges;
3) The Flemish home institution has selected a Flemish student enrolled at the home institution
to send to the Asian host institution, and such selection has been accepted by the Asian
host institution. A Flemish student is defined as a student from any nationality, subscribed
in a Flemish Higher Education Institution;
4) The same Asian host institution has selected an Asian student enrolled at the host institution
to send to the Flemish home institution, and such selection has been accepted by the same
Flemish home institution.
5) If the Flemish student has already started the exchange or the Asian student has already
stayed in Belgium/Flanders before the application period for DUO- Belgium/Flanders
2016, the application is not acceptable.
1.2. The Duration and the Amount of the DUO-Belgium/Flanders Fellowships
DUO-Belgium/Flanders 2016 is for exchange projects, which will start from August 2016 and end
before September 2017 to avoid duplication of implementation period of exchange projects
selected by DUO-Belgium/Flanders in the ensuing years. The selection of DUO-Belgium/Flanders
2016 is made ONLY once a year. In this respect, those who are planning to exchange in Spring
Semester of 2017 (January-August 2017) shall apply for DUO-Belgium/Flanders 2016.
The duration and the amount of the fellowships are standardized as follows:
The amount of the fellowships is Standardized as follows:
650 Euro/month for Flemish students and 800 Euro/month for Asian students
1,100 Euro for BOTH the Flemish student and the Asian student for the purpose of
travel costs.
The duration of exchange should be at least one semester. A semester is defined as the period
including the eventual introduction activities, the period of teaching and the period of preparing
and doing the examinations. A period of 15 days before the start of a semester is also accepted in
the period of funding. Exchange of less than one semester is NOT allowed. If a semester is longer
than 4 months in the visiting institution, fellowship will be given for 4 months. If a semester is less
than 4 months in the Home/Host institutions, then the scholarship will be adjusted on a pro-rata
basis.
DUO-Belgium/Flanders: 2. Application Procedure
2.1. Who Applies?
The higher education institution in Belgium/ Flanders applies on behalf of both institutions and
persons who are to participate in the exchange. Asian institutions shall cooperate fully with
Flemish institutions in supplying precise information of Asian applicants. Individuals wishing to
take part in exchanges are advised to contact the relevant offices (e.g. International Relations
Offices) of the higher education institution to file an application for this program.
2.2. Application Period
Applications will be accepted from December 18, 2015 through March 31, 2016 local Belgian
time. Applications submitted after March 31 will not be accepted.
2.3. Application Material for Submission
1. Filling out an Online Application Form only
2. A Copy of Cooperation Agreement (or Memorandum Of Understanding for cooperation)
between paired institutions OR declaration of intention to set up new cooperation
agreement, signed by Head of Flemish Higher Education Institution
by uploading to the
website with scanned files (only valid one)
3. A copy of passport of paired applicants by uploading to the website with scanned files
4.
A motivation letter (max. 2 pages A4) of each of the paired applicants by uploading to the
website
If courses listed on the application differ from the actual courses, Contact Persons or Persons of
Exchange are responsible to inform the Secretariat for approval; if this procedure is not taken
beforehand, fellowship award to both students is subject to cancellation and consequently refund.
An Online application form for DUO-Belgium/Flanders can be found on the ASEM-DUO website
at http://www.asemduo.org
1. Click JOIN US button and find the Name of Home Institution to get an ID.
※If you don’t find the name of your institution, please contact the secretariat to add your
institution to the list.
2. Enter your password with the minimum information of the contact person in Home
University.
3. Home institution should fill out the whole application including the information of Host
Institution. Application From in PDF format can be downloaded from the ASEM-DUO
website (http://www.asemduo.org) at the banner of Applications & Forms.
4. Once completed, please make sure to submit your application by clicking “submit” button.
Home Institution should get a confirmation email from the secretariat within 3 days after
completion of submission. If you don’t get a confirmation email, please contact
admin2@asemduo.org promptly.
5. The rest of the documents (cooperation agreement, passport copy and motivation letter) can
be uploaded in the last step of the application process.
2.4. How and When is the Selection Made
A Flemish Selection Committee, comprising Flemish experts and if possible representatives from
Asian countries, will make the selection after the application deadline. The decision will be
announced by late April 2016.
The notification will be displayed on website, www.asemduo.org and the Secretariat will directly
notify Contact Persons in writing. Hard copies of notification and Letter of Acceptance (forms are
also available at www.asemduo.org) will be forwarded to both home and host institutions. Contact
Persons may download forms of Letter of Acceptance, if they so wish.
Period
Application Procedure
December 18,
2015
- March 31,
2016
April
Late April or
Early May
2.5. Selection Criteria
Project proposals for the exchange of students in all disciplines will be accepted. However,
Student&Institution
1.
Application
2.
Cooperation agreement
The Secretariat
Selection Committee
by Flemish Ministry
for Education &
Training
Result & Announcement
priority shall be given to following disciplines:
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
- Political and social sciences
- Economy
- Communication Sciences
Furthermore we will give priority to following themes:
- Intercultural dialogue
- Sustainability
- Innovation
- Health care
Very important: at least 25% of all scholarships will be awarded to students with a low socio-
economic background:
Students who are entitled to a Flemish study grant, confirmed by AHOVOKS.
Students with a disability, recognized by VAPH.
Working students in a work programme. The student must be an employee, or must be
looking for a job, and the study programme must be aligned with the work programme
proposed by the employment service. Moreover, the student cannot have obtained a Master
degree or a second cycle diploma yet.
The date of reference to determine whether a student comes from a low socio-economic
background is the deadline of 31st March 2016.
If the proposal includes a student from an underrepresented group, it is important to make this
clear in the application form.
2.6. Fellowship Grants
The DUO-Belgium/Flanders Fellowship for the selected exchange projects will be paid directly by
the Secretariat to the bank accounts of students who participate in those exchange projects. There
are no restrictions in using the fellowship.
DUO-Belgium/Flanders: 3. Instruction for Application Form
3.1. Language of Application
You should write your application in English.
3.2. Structure of the Application Form
1. STEP1. – Home Institution
The first box of ID number and Date of submission is for the use of the secretariat only.
Please, start from filling out information of Home Institution.
●
CONTACT PERSON means a regular staff of the Flemish institution who arranges the
exchange project and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events as
verifying application details, transferring fellowship, monitoring exchanges and
providing further information on the status of the exchange.
●
ASSISTANT PERSON shall be capable of replacing the CONTACT PERSON in case
of emergency. Assistant Person can be a colleague of the Contact Person who knows the
process of DUO-Belgium/Flanders.
●
PERSON OF EXCHANGE shall be any Flemish student who will participate in the
exchange.
●
In a box for Institutional Criteria for selecting student to be exchanged, describe why
you (or your institution) recommend the student.
N.B.: For each pair of an exchange project, the exchange period of the Belgian and Asian
students does not necessarily need to coincide, and the field of exchange does not need to be
the same.
2. STEP 2. – Host Institution
In this page, provide information of the host institution involved in the exchange project.
The host institution shall be resided in 4 Asian countries (China, India, Vietnam, and South
Korea).
●
CONTACT PERSON means a regular staff of the Asian institution who arranges the
exchange project and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events as
verifying application details, transferring fellowship, monitoring exchange and
providing further information on the status of the exchange.
●
ASSISTANT PERSON shall be capable of replacing the CONTACT PERSON in case
of emergency. Assistant Person can be a colleague of the Contact Person who knows the
process of DUO-Belgium/Flanders.
●
PERSON OF EXCHANGE shall be any Asian student who will participate in the
exchange.
●
In a box for Institutional Criteria for selecting person to be exchanged, describe why
you (or your institution) recommend the person of exchange for fellowship in detail.
●
Confirmation on Agreement with Host Institution (to be signed by CONTACT
PERSON at the Flemish Home Institution): since the contact person in the Flemish
institution is required to complete the application on behalf of two people who will
participate in the exchange between the home and the host institution (Asian institution),
he/she should confirm here by checking “YES” that the contact person in the host
institution also agrees with this submission of the application.
3. STEP 3. – Description of the Exchange Program
In this section, please describe the type, duration and purpose of the exchange as instructed
on the form.
●
Type of exchange: please check appropriate boxes to specify whether the students for
exchange are in an undergraduate or in a graduate study.
●
Duration of Exchange: As stipulated on the DUO-Belgium/Flanders General
Description, the duration of DUO-Belgium/Flanders Fellowship is standardized on a
semester basis.
●
Purpose of Exchange: Please, specify what the purpose of the exchange is. Also fill in
how many ECTS that will be recognized by home or host institution. As the duration is
on semester basis, a minimum of 25 ECTS must be taken up at the host institution.
4. STEP 4. – Exchange Details/ Source of Finance
Under this heading, Flemish and Asian students’ learning agreement should be listed
during their exchanges periods. Details shall be elaborated as they will determine the
selection of the application.
For your information, if courses listed on the application differ from the actual courses,
Contact Persons or Persons of Exchange are responsible to inform the Secretariat for
approval; if this procedure is not taken beforehand, fellowship award to both students is
subject to cancellation and consequently refunded. Intensive language courses by students
are not honored in this program.
If this exchange project has any other source of finance, please specify. Any private loan or
family support is not applicable to this category.
5. STEP 5. –Certification of Authenticity
After completing all relevant items in appropriate manner on the entire field of application,
please write the date and the names of contact person of the home institution and the
President/director/head of international office of the institution in the section of
Certification of Authenticity. Submit the form to the Secretariat by clicking “submit”
button. The original printed version with the signatures will be requested if your project has
been selected.
A Copy of Cooperation Agreement, passport and motivation letter of paired applicants
should be attached. The preferred file formats of Cooperation Agreement and Passport for
attachments are .jpg or .pdf.
3.3. After the submission: acknowledgement
The acknowledgement on the receipt of submission will be sent to the contact person in the
Flemish home institution by e-mail within 3 days after submission. If there is any application with
incomplete or improper information, further information will be individually requested by the
Secretariat.
