NUC Announces The Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development (PRESSID) 2013

As part of efforts to achieve the goals of Vision 20:2020 and the Transformation Agenda, the Federal Government of Nigeria plans to develop a critical mass of professionals who would serve as catalysts of change and agents of scientific and technological advancement, as well as sustainable economic development. This would be achieved through the sponsorship of outstanding students for postgraduate studies in the top 25 universities in the world. To this end, the Federal Government has instituted the Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development.

Eligibility Criteria for the Scheme

Interested candidates should:

• be graduates from the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 academic sessions, who would have completed their National Youth Service by October 2013;
• have obtained First Class Honours degree from any recognized and approved University in the following disciplines and aim at postgraduate degrees in the specified and allied disciplines:
• Sciences: Nuclear Physics, Operations Research, Industrial Chemistry, Quantitative Genetics, etc
• Basic Medical Sciences: Anatomy, Physiology, Medical Biochemistry, etc;
• Special Aspects of Biology: Biometrics, Molecular Biology, etc;
• Economics: Econometrics, Development Economics, etc;
• Engineering & Technology: Aeronautical Engineering, Mechatronics, Metallurgy, Material Science and Production Engineering, Nanotechnology, Cyber-Security, Software Engineering, etc;
• Medicine: Oncology, Human Genetics, Hepatology, Nuclear Medicine, Geriatrics, etc;

*In the case of Medicine, candidates must have a minimum of 2 Distinctions in their Part 3 and Part 4 MBBS examinations; In all cases, candidates must:

• be below 30 years of age by October 2013;
• be computer literate; and
• be ready to be bonded and to work, preferably, as academic staff in any public university or research institute for a minimum period of five (5) years.

NB: Universities in the United States of America require candidates to sit for the Graduate Record Exams (GRE) before they can secure admission.

For further enquiries, please contact the Committee through pressid@nuc.edu.ng or presidentialscholarshipscheme@gmail.com.

Only shortlisted candidate will be invited for further screening.

The list of top 25 universities in the world (according to the Nigerian Universities Commission, NUC).

1. University of Cambridge –United Kingdom
2. Harvard University –United States
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) –United States
4. Yale University –United States
5. University of Oxford  -United Kingdom
6. Imperial College London – United States
7. UCL (University College London) –United Kingdom
8. University of Chicago –United States
9. University of Pennsylvania (Upenn) –United States
10. Columbia University –United States
11. Stanford University –United States
12. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) –United States
13. Princeton University –United States
14. University of Michigan –United States
15. Cornel University –United States
16. John Hopkins University –United States
17. McGill University –Canada
18. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology) –Switzerland
19. Duke University –United States
20. University of Edinburgh –United Kingdom
21. University of Carlifornia Berkeley (UCB) – United States
22. University of Hong Kong (HKU) –Hong Kong
23. University of Toronto –Canada
24. Northwestern University –United States
25. University of Tokyo -Japan  

You are advised to cross check with the courses offered by your preferred institution (using the links) before completing your application.