The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) renewed its long-established partnership in human resource development with the granting of scholarship slots for Southeast Asians to pursue graduate studies. This scholarship programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
DAAD and SEARCA initiated its partnership in school year 1975-1976 for a graduate scholarship leading to MS and PhD degrees in agriculture. The first 15 beneficiaries of DAAD were graduate students from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. To date, DAAD and SEARCA have awarded 391 Southeast Asians with 191 pursuing their MS, 195 pursuing PhD, and 5 enrolling for Non-degree.
For AY 2021-2022, DAAD-SEARCA opened its call for applications to the In-Country/In-Region Scholarship Programme Southeast Asia until 16 February 2021. The scholarship is open to nationals from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam planning to purse graduate studies in development-related fields. The scholarship aims to develop strong, internationally oriented higher education systems in Southeast Asia that would contribute to sustainable development. The renewed partnership with DAAD through the scholarship program also supports SEARCA's mandate of strengthening institutional capacities in agricultural and rural development in the region.
Interested applicants may pursue fields in Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Resource Economics, Tropical Agriculture, Plant Science, Plant Pathology, Agronomy, Plant Breeding, Genetics, Environmental Science, and Environmental Engineering. These fields may be taken at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), Kasetsart University (KU), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
Information on the requirements and application procedure is available at https://www.searca.org/daad-scholarship