Funding Support for Study Abroad Programs

College or high-level education has always represented a financial obstacle for most people. Yet, in reality, those who look beyond obstacles, are able to find more creative alternatives and endless opportunities to improve and complement knowledge and skills and contribute academics and industries with innovative proposals through partial financial aids or full scholarships.

It is amazing how international organizations and governments worldwide allocate budgets for education and only few people enjoy from these programs. In this first article, I will give a brief description of the opportunities available and provide links to useful resources for those looking for such alternatives.

Important tip: have in mind that you must be able to write about subjects that need to be compelling to the development of our societies. Also, you need to write in a graceful and smoothly way, to demonstrate that you are a scholar or potential to be a scholar.

The most important and challenging elements to succeed are to understand yourself, your objective, and you audience. These three elements clearly defined will help you to position yourself to outstand from the crowd, communicate you ideas effectively and deserve such support.

Programs & Alternatives

The European Commission:
ALFA Program (Latin America Academic Training): Participant countries are the Member States of the European Union and the 18 countries of Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Alban Program: High level scholarship program specifically addressed to Latin America to conduct Master, Doctorate or advanced Specialization training in 17 European Union member states. For other programs and projects check by Region or Theme

Japan:
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) of Japan invites international students to study at their expense since 1954. All application are available though Japanese Embassies or consulate-general abroad or Japanese Universities.

The IDB (Inter-american Development Bank) provide two scholarship programs: the Japan Scholarship Program for graduate students in development-related fields, and scholarships to attend social development courses offered by INDES.

U.S.:
Studying in the US is usually expensive, with very few and highly competitive scholarships and grants for those less fortunate that can't get a loan. Yet, there are other alternatives such as community colleges that provide excellent programs. These programs allow students to earn academic credit for the first two years of a Bachelor's Degree, which typically takes four years to complete. The two-year degree is often referred to as an Associates Degree. These community colleges are less expensive than full four-year universities, because they are supported by local community through property taxes. Get more info in the Collegeboard.com, where you will be able to search colleges by any category or requirements you need. If you need more study abroad funding information, you can visit IIEPASSPORT Study Abroad Funding for a larger database of grants, scholarships and fellowships.

These are just few examples. There are myriads of opportunities out there, just waiting for you and your ideas and proposals to improve our societies and make an important contribution to our world. Everyone can make the difference!