The Ireland Fellows Programme enables early to mid-career professionals from eligible countries, with leadership potential, to benefit from a prestigious, world-class, quality education contributing to capacity building. It offers selected students the opportunity to undertake a fully funded one-year master’s level programme at a higher education institution (HEI) in Ireland. The award covers programme fees, flights, accommodation and living costs. Eligible master’s level programmes in Ireland commence in August or September each year and, depending on the programme, will run for between 10 and 16 months. The Ireland Fellows Programme promotes equal opportunity and welcomes diversity.

Eligible Courses: Eligible courses are in areas such as agriculture, health, education, human rights, computer science, engineering, business and more, and are listed in a Directory of Eligible Programmes each year when applications open.

Eligibility

To be eligible for an Ireland Fellows Programme – Asia fellowship award commencing at the beginning of the academic year 2021, applicants must:

• Be a resident national of one of the countries listed below:
  Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam
• Have a minimum of three years’ work experience that is directly relevant to your proposed programme(s) of study (this can include internships) for candidates from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam.
• Hold a bachelor’s level academic qualification from an accredited and government-recognised higher education institution, with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (4.0 scale) - i.e. a first class honour, or second class honour, Grade 1 (in some cases a second class honour Grade 2 may be accepted, if the applicant has sufficient directly relevant work experience). It must have been awarded by 2009 or later (i.e. within the last 12 years).
• Not already hold a qualification, have started a programme, or be due to start a programme in the academic year 2020/21, at master’s level or higher.
• Be applying to commence a new programme at master’s level in Ireland no sooner than August 2021.
• Be able to demonstrate leadership abilities and aspirations, as well as commitment to the achievement of the SDGs within your own country.
• Have identified and selected three relevant programmes from the Directory of Eligible Programmes.
• Have a clear understanding of the academic and English language proficiencies required for all programmes chosen.
• Must not have applied to the Ireland Fellows Programme on more than one previous occasion.
• Be in a position to take up the Fellowship in the academic year 2021/2022.

Applications from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar for the Ireland Fellows Programme – Asia are by invitation only. This means that fellowships in these countries are restricted to the staff of government departments and NGOs which work in partnership with Irish Aid, and to personnel of organisations that are aligned with Irish Aid's development strategy in their country which have already been identified by the Embassy of Ireland. Applications from outside these partnerships will not be eligible. To find out if you are eligible to apply, please contact the relevant Embassy of Ireland or your employer.

Applications from Vietnam are open.

Applications

Please read the Applicants Guidance Note carefully before completing as eligibility criteria may differ from country to country. 

The application process consists of three stages:

• Stage 1   Preliminary Application;
• Stage 2   Detailed Application;
• Stage 3   Interviews.

All applicants who are selected to go forward to second stage will be required to sit an online Duolingo English Test. If shortlisted after the interview stage, all applicants will be required to take another English language test, normally the IELTS exam, unless they are already in possession of an IELTS certificate that is dated 2019 or later which shows the applicant has achieved the necessary score for the course(s) they intend to apply to. Early preparation for the IELTS exam is strongly advised, even for native English speakers.

Additional Information

To find out what Ireland is doing in Asia, visit www.irishaid.ie.
For information on the Department of Foreign Affairs, visit www.dfa.ie.
To learn about education in Ireland, visit www.educationinireland.com.
For information about IELTS, visit www.ielts.org.