DUO-Belgium/Flanders Fellowship Programme was established in 2011 with the aim of promoting exchanges of students between Belgium/Flanders and 4 Asian countries (China, India, South Korea and Vietnam) on a balanced and permanent basis. In this respect, DUO-Belgium/Flanders requires that a PAIR (two persons) of students will be exchanged in the framework of a cooperative project.

Definition of ‘student’:  
● Undergraduate (bachelor) and graduate (master) students who are currently enrolled in universities or university colleges in Flanders or one of the four Asian countries.
● Nationality of the student is not a criterion.

N.B.: All applicants should maintain their “student status” from the time of application until the end of their exchange period.

1.1 Eligibility
Due to the unique nature of this program, in order to be eligible, the exchange project needs to fulfill all five requirements below:

1) A higher education institution in Belgium/Flanders (home institution) and an educational institution in Asia (host institution) have established an academic cooperative agreement or have the intention to set up a new cooperation agreement.
2) The Flemish higher education institution, as well as the Asian partner cannot ask tuition fees to the students for the exchanges.
3) The Flemish home institution has selected a Flemish student enrolled at the home institution tosend to the Asian host institution, and such selection has been accepted by the Asian host institution. A Flemish student is defined as a student from any nationality, subscribed in a Flemish Higher Education Institution.
4) The same Asian host institution has selected an Asian student enrolled at the host institution tosend to the Flemish home institution, and such selection has been accepted by the same Flemish home institution.
5) If the Flemish student has already started the exchange or the Asian student has already stayed in Belgium/Flanders before the application period for DUO- Belgium/Flanders 2019, the application is not acceptable.

1.2. The Duration and the Amount of the DUO-Belgium/Flanders Scholarship
DUO-Belgium/Flanders 2019 is for exchange projects, which will start from August 2019 and end before September 2020 to avoid duplication of implementation period of exchange projects selected by DUO-Belgium/Flanders in the ensuing years. The selection of DUO-Belgium/Flanders 2019 is made ONLY once a year. In this respect, those who are planning to exchange in Spring Semester of 2020(January-August 2020) shall apply for DUO-Belgium/Flanders 2019.

The amount of the scholarships is standardized as follows:

  ●€650/month (with a maximum of €2.600) for Flemish students and €800/month (with a maximum of €3.200) for Asian students
  ●€1.100 for BOTH the Flemish student and the Asian student for the purpose of travel costs.
  ●an extra €200/month (with a maximum of €800) will be awarded to Flemish students that belong to the underrepresented groups in higher education:
      -Students who are entitled to a Flemish study grant.
      -Students with a disability, recognized by VAPH.
      -Working students in a work programme. The student must be an employee, or must be looking for a job, and the study programme must be aligned with the work programme proposed by the employment service. Moreover, the student cannot have obtained a Master degree or a second cycle diploma yet.

The data in the database of AHOVOKS will be considered as correct. The date of reference to determine whether a student comes from a low socio-economic background is the deadline of 01 April 2019. If on this date the request of the student is still being processed, the final decision of AHOVOKS will be awaited. As soon as the request is approved, the student will receive the extra €800.

The duration of exchange should be at least one semester (= 4 months). A semester is defined as the period including the eventual introduction activities, the period of teaching and the period of preparing and doing the examinations. Exchange of less than one semester is NOT allowed. If a semester is longer than 4 months in the visiting institution, scholarship will be given for 4 months.

DUO-Belgium/Flanders: 2. Application Procedure

2.1. Who Applies?
The higher education institution in Belgium/Flanders applies on behalf of both institutions and persons who are to participate in the exchange. Asian institutions shall cooperate fully with Flemish institutions in supplying precise information of Asian applicants. Individuals wishing to take part in exchanges are advised to contact the relevant offices (e.g. International Relations Offices) of the higher education institution to file an application for this program.

2.2. Application Period
Applications will be accepted from January 7, 2019 through April 01, 2019 GMT+1.
Applications submitted after April 01, 2019 GMT+1 will not be accepted.

2.3. Application Material for Submission
1. Filling out an Online Application Form.
2. A Copy of Cooperation Agreement (or Memorandum Of Understanding for cooperation) between paired institutions OR declaration of intention to set up new cooperation agreement, signed by Head of Flemish Higher Education Institution by uploading to the website with scanned files (only valid one).
3. A copy of passport of paired applicants by uploading to the website with scanned files.
4. A motivation letter with a personal and academic motivation (max. 2 pages A4) of each of the paired applicants by uploading to the website.

If courses listed on the application differ from the actual courses, Contact Persons or Persons of Exchange are responsible to inform the Secretariat for approval; if this procedure is not taken beforehand, scholarship award to both students is subject to cancellation and consequently refund.

An Online application form for DUO-Belgium/Flanders can be found on the ASEM-DUO website (http://www.asemduo.org).

  1. Click JOIN US button and find the Name of Home Institution to get an ID.
      ※If you don’t find the name of your institution, please contact the secretariat to add your institution to the list.
  2. Enter your password with the minimum information of the contact person in Home University.
  3. Home institution should fill out the whole application including the information of Host Institution. Application From in PDF format can be downloaded from the ASEM-DUO website (http://www.asemduo.org) at the banner of Forms.
  4. Once completed, please make sure to submit your application by clicking “submit” button. Home Institution should get a confirmation email from the secretariat within 3 days after completion of submission. If you don’t get a confirmation email, please contact admin2@asemduo.org promptly.
  5. The rest of the documents (Cooperation Agreement, Passport Copy, Transcripts, Motivation Letter and Recommendation Letters) can be uploaded in the last step of the application process.

2.4. How and When is the Selection Made

A Flemish Selection Committee, comprising Flemish experts and if possible representatives from Asian countries, will make the selection after the application deadline. The decision will be announced in May 2019.

The notification will be displayed on website, www.asemduo.org and the Secretariat will directly notify Contact Persons/Awardees in writing. Hard copies of notification and Letter of Acceptance (forms are also available at the banner of Forms) will be forwarded to both home and host institution.

2.5 Selection Criteria
  Project proposals for the exchange of students in all disciplines will be accepted. However, priority shall be given to following disciplines:
    -STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
    -Political and social sciences
    -Economy
    -Communication Sciences

Very important: at least 25% of all scholarships will be awarded to students with a low socio-economic background (only applicable for the Flemish students). For definition see 1.2. If the proposal includes a student from an underrepresented group, it is important to make this clear in the application form.

The selection will be based on the following criteria:
  o priority field of study (5 points);
  o the quality of the Learning or Training agreement (10 points);
  o institutional criteria for submitting the student (15 points);
  o the applicant’s study results in the Transcript of records (30 points);
  o the quality of the applicant’s motivation (30 points);
  o the reasons for recommending the applicant in the Recommendation letter (not mandatory (10points).

2.6. Scholarship Grants
The DUO-Belgium/Flanders Scholarship for the selected exchange projects will be paid directly by the Secretariat to the bank accounts of students who participate in those exchange projects. There are no restrictions in using the scholarship.
Students should not combine this scholarship with other scholarships like e.g. a CSC scholarship.

DUO-Belgium/Flanders: 3. Instruction for Application Form

3.1. Language of Application
You should write your complete application (including documents/annexes) in English.

3.2. Structure of the Application Form

   1. STEP1. Home Institution
     The first box of ID number and Date of submission is for the use of the secretariat only. Please, start from filling out information of Home Institution.
       ● CONTACT PERSON means a regular staff of the Flemish institution who arranges the exchangeproject and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events as verifying application details, transferring scholarship, monitoring exchanges and providing further information on the status of the exchange.
       ● ASSISTANT PERSON shall be capable of replacing the CONTACT PERSON in case of emergency.Assistant Person can be a colleague of the Contact Person who knows the process of DUO- Belgium/Flanders.
       ● PERSON OF EXCHANGE shall be any Flemish student who will participate in the exchange.
       ● In a box for Institutional Criteria for selecting student to be exchanged, describe why you (or your institution) recommend the student.

N.B.: For each pair of an exchange project, the exchange period of the Belgian and Asian studentsdoes not necessarily need to coincide, and the field of exchange does not need to be the same.

2. STEP 2. Host Institution
    In this page, provide information of the host institution involved in the exchange project. The hostinstitution shall be resided in 4 Asian countries (China, India, Vietnam, and South Korea).
    ● CONTACT PERSON means a regular staff of the Asian institution who arranges the exchange project and is willing to communicate with the Secretariat in such events as verifying application details, transferring scholarship, monitoring exchange and providing further information on the status of the exchange.
    ● ASSISTANT PERSON shall be capable of replacing the CONTACT PERSON in case of emergency.Assistant Person can be a colleague of the Contact Person who knows the process of DUO- Belgium/Flanders.
    ● PERSON OF EXCHANGE shall be any Asian student who will participate in the exchange.
    ● In a box for Institutional Criteria for selecting person to be exchanged, describe why you (or your institution) recommend the person of exchange for scholarship in detail.
    ● Confirmation on Agreement with Host Institution (to be signed by CONTACT PERSON at the Flemish Home Institution): since the contact person in the Flemish institution is required to complete the application on behalf of two people who will participate in the exchange between the home and the host institution (Asian institution), he/she should confirm here by checking “YES” that the contact person in the host institution also agrees with this submission of the application.

3. STEP 3. Description of the Exchange Program
  In this section, please describe the type, duration and purpose of the exchange as instructed on the form.
  ● Type of exchange: please check appropriate boxes to specify whether the students for exchange are in an undergraduate or in a graduate study.
  ● Duration of Exchange: As stipulated on the DUO-Belgium/Flanders General Description, the duration of DUO-Belgium/Flanders Scholarship is standardized on a semester basis.
  ● Purpose of Exchange: Please, specify what the purpose of the exchange is. Also fill in how many ECTS that will be recognized by home or host institution. As the duration is on semester basis, a minimum of 25 ECTS must be taken up at the host institution.

4. STEP 4. Exchange Details/ Source of Finance
  Under this heading, Flemish and Asian students’ learning agreement should be listed during their exchanges periods. Details shall be elaborated as they will determine the selection of the application.

For your information, if courses listed on the application differ from the actual courses, Contact Persons or Persons of Exchange are responsible to inform the Secretariat for approval; if this procedure is not taken beforehand, scholarship award to both students is subject to cancellation and consequently refunded. Intensive language courses by students are not honored in this program.

If this exchange project has any other source of finance, please specify. Any private loan or family support is not applicable to this category.

5. STEP 5. Certification of Authenticity
  After completing all relevant items in appropriate manner on the entire field of application, pleasewrite the date and the names of contact person of the home institution and the President/director/head of international office of the institution in the section of Certification of Authenticity.  Submit the form to the Secretariat by clicking “submit” button. The scanned version with the signatures will be requested if your project has been selected.

A Copy of Cooperation Agreement, Passport Copies, Transcripts and Motivation Letters of paired applicants should be attached (Recommendation Letters are not mandatory).  The preferred file formats for attachments are .jpg or .pdf.

 3.3. After the submission: acknowledgement
  The acknowledgement on the receipt of submission will be sent to the contact person in the Flemish home institution by e-mail within 3 days after submission. If there is any application with incomplete or improper information, further information will be individually requested by the Secretariat.