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The Foreign Development Co-operation Programme is an integral part of the Czech foreign policy, setting out the Government policy towards developing and transforming countries in a comprehensive manner. In the strict sense of the word, the Foreign Development Co-operation (FDC) represents the assistance extended by the Czech Republic (in the form of transfer of funds, materials and technical and other expertise) towards ensuring a long-term sustainable development of the respective countries.
The FDC is co-ordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which draws up the FDC policy. Other ministries supervise and administer the projects approved by the Government, content-wise, falling within their respective terms of reference.
In the years 2006 – 2010, the Czech Republic targets the programme at eight focal countries (Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia, Vietnam, Yemen and Zambia).
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MEYS) is responsible for FDC in the field of education and youth. The MEYS has selected Angola and Moldova out of the aforementioned list and currently supervises the implementation of four projects aimed at promoting various aspects of education in these two countries as well as two education-related projects launched before the year 2006 in other countries that are yet to be completed:
2 projects in Angola:
- Developing the Centre of Agricultural Education in the Bié region;
- Enhancing the capacity of educational infrastructure and the quality of education among pupils and students in the Bié region;
2 projects in Moldova:
- Supporting the development of study programmes at the Moldovian State Agricultural University in Kishinev and harmonisation of the Moldovian education system with the EU standards;
- Promoting extra-curricular activities and integration of children from boarding schools in Moldova;
1 project in Ethiopia:
- Enlargement of the Awassa Secondary School and support for students – AIDS orphans;
1 project in Namibia:
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Development of technical-economic study programmes at the Polytechnic College of Namibia;
Moreover, the MEYS has been implementing, in conjunction with the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a specific project „Scholarships of the Government of the Czech Republic“. This scholarship programme is targeted at developing countries and the so called Government scholarships are designed to cover the entire length of study in Bachelor’s/Master’s degree or Ph.D. courses plus one-year preparatory course of the Czech language (and possibly also field-specific training) for the applicants who are to enrol in a study programme in the Czech language.
Currently, 130 scholarships of this type are offered annually (out of which seventy are intended for study in Bachelor and (long) Master study programmes in the Czech language and sixty scholarships are designed to cover study in the follow-up two-year Master study programmes and Doctoral study programmes in the English language).
The possibility of studying a selected field in the English language is limited to several subject areas (agriculture, informatics, economics, civil engineering) and is offered exclusively to applicants from some countries (in the current piloting phase only to applicants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monte Negro, Ethiopia, Ghana, Columbia, Moldova, Mongolia, Serbia and Vietnam).
Applications must be filed with the Embassies of the Czech Republic (or the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – for more details see http://www.msmt.cz/international-cooperation-1/government-scholarships-developing-countries.
A limited number of scholarships is available also to students who file their applications with the respective National UNESCO Commission.
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