These scholarships will support young people up to the age of 30 who are nationals of Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and who have completed their degrees in these countries wishing to continue their studies.

The scholarship recipients were selected from a total of 140 applications, mostly from Mozambique and Angola. In order to approve the candidates, the field of study was taken into account, as well as their final grade (15 or higher), in an attempt to ensure that all PALOP countries were represented. The 18 scholarship recipients will be studying for master’s degrees in Biology (10), Maths (4), Physics (2) and Chemistry (2).

The scholarship has a maximum duration of 24 months and, in addition to tuition fees and a monthly allowance, includes support for travelling and accommodation expenses. In total, the attribution of the 18 scholarships represents a commitment of approximately 600,000 euros for the Foundation.

This initiative is part of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s approach to encouraging talent among the youth and strengthening the postgraduate offer in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and maths), so as to improve skills in these fields, both inside and outside the capital cities of the PALOP countries.