EU Scholarship Scheme in Kosovo

NEWS 20/05/2009: Final Ranking Order Reviewed following a complaint

Thursday 14th May one candidate withdraw from the 44 grantees (Ms Albuena Xhelilli). However, the candidate who in fact replaced her in the list of 44 is Mr Kastriot Halili, originally ranked n¨48 instead than the first on the reserve list, Mr Fusha. Mr Halilli in fact introduced a complaint (also on 14th May) concerning his scores in the EU General Knowledge Test and demanded for a double check on his results. In line with Kosovan Civil Service employment legal frame, the complaint was examined and it was found out that while he was marked an 18, his score was actually 61. The problem in this case was that during the manual corrections of the answer sheets (over 2200 sheets in total, 628 for the EU test) one of the corrector used by mistake the "master answer sheet" for the test of the Friday 10th to correct some of the answer sheets of Saturday the 11th. After the mistake was realised there has been a control on the other EU knowledge test for those in the first 100 candidates, and found 2 other similar cases that however had no practical consequences (Mr Bardh Skrheli, who moved from N*40 to N°24, and Ms Leonora Gashi, N°60, who moved to N°54). Mr Halili should have been included in the list of the 44 grantees from the beginning and so he naturally replaces Ms Xhelili.

The revised final ranking order can be downloaded here.

NEWS 12/05/2009: Final Results of Round VI Selections

The YCS Round VI selection process has been concluded on Saturday 9th of May. During 3 days (7th, 8th and 9th May) two panels, each composed by 4 EU academics, a representative of ACDEI and a representative from ECLO, have interviewed 95 of the 101 candidates invited to take the interviews.

3 candidates were declared ineligible prior to the beginning of the interviews as they could not graduate before the 30th of April and 3 other candidates did not show at the interviews.

Out of the 95 candidates, 44 are awarded with a scholarship and 6 have been included in the reserve list, which means that those 6 candidates are suitable to replace any of the first 44 candidates in case one of them will renounce to the scholarship.

It was not possible to award any grant in the sector of Geology and Mining (of the 3 available) while  it was possible to award only 1 grant in the sector of Veterinary (out of the 4 available).

You can download here the final ranking order with the scores each candidate received out of the interview.

NEWS 30/04/2009: The Schedule and Timetable for interviews is now available

The Schedule and timetable for candidates invited to the interviews for the last stage of the YCS Round VI selections can now be downloaded here.

Invited candidates must arrive with proof of identity (ID, passport or other valid proof of identity) one hour before their scheduled time for the interview. The allowed timing for interviews and the number of candidates to be interviewed impose that no delays will be accepted. Should a candidate not be present at the time indicated there will not be an other chance for him or her.

Interviews will take place in:
Building of Kosovo Institute for Public Administration (KIPA)
Str. Muje Krasniqi p.n.
Prishtina

Interviews will be conducted as described in the YCS Rules. Candidates must arrive one hour before in order to prepare themselves for the first part of the interviews, the presentation. They will pick up randomly one text out of five (each of similar lenght and contents) that they will have to present to the panel. There will be 2 panels, each composed of 7 members (5 from EU academic institutions, 1 from ECLO and 1 from the Government of Kosovo). One panel will interview 50 candidates, the other 51 candidates.

For those candidates from PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES who were required to bring the ACCREDITATION of their DEGREE, we have further investigated the issue with the Ministry of Education, following a number of messages from candidates saying that it was impossible to get in such short time the required stamp. After discussing the issue with the Ministry, we were confirmed that in fact it would take longer than what it is available in terms of time. We have therefore decided NOT TO REQUIRE THIS anymore. This will be an issue dealt with after the selections are over.

NEWS 29/04/2009: No additional written exam for undergraduates

ECLO and ACDEI have decided that there will be no additional written exams for those undergraduate candidates who were not pre-selected in the first stage.

NEWS 29/04/2009: Further information from ECLO and ACDEI concerning the ranking order and the list of candidates invited to the interviews on 7th, 8th and 9th May

With reference to the list of candidates invited to the interviews for the
7th, 8th and 9th of May, ECLO and ACDEI wish the candidates to be informed
of the following:
- With respect to the original thresholds in both English test and EU knowledge test, the results of the written exams indicated than only some 50
candidates could have been invited to the interviews. If the strictest
thresholds were to be maintained ECLO and ACDEI would have been obliged to
considerably reduce the number of scholarships available;
- As both institutions did not want to reduce the number of scholarships
at this stage, they decided to further investigate the
capacities and skills of the candidates, with the view of
trying to attribute the total number of available scholarships;
- The thresholds in the English tests have been therefore considered more
important than the thresholds in the EU test. This is because without a
proficient knowledge of English no candidate can be awarded a scholarship,
while with a low level of knowledge in EU affairs a candidate can still be
awarded a scholarship (attending the Master programmes in a EU country will
compensate this lack).
- Therefore, as already communicated the ranking order in the list has been based only the results of the written tests on the knowledge of the English language;
- The ranking order based on the results of the English tests showed that
some 64 candidates had actually passed the minimum threshold of 60% of
correct answers;
- It was therefore decided to proceed with the interviews only for the first
64 candidates with the minimum threshold in English.
- In case there will not be enough suitable candidates from the above describe group of 64 candidates to cover all available places, candidates with lower scores in English language will be considered (candidates from no. 65 - 101).
- Thus for practical reasons it was decided to invite all 101 candidates at the same time in the interview (ie, EU academics forming the interviews panels will be in Pristina only for the 7th, 8th and 9th of May)

NEWS: 25/04/2009: Publication of Results of the Written Exams and of Candidate Lists

The results of the written exams and the list of candidates invited to the interviews is being published today instead than the 17th of April as originally announced for the main reason that not enough candidates were able to pass the thresholds established in the YCS Rules of Procedures.

After correction of the written exams it appeared that out of the 325 applicants who came to the written test and the 314 who actually handed in all the tests (on 373 who had been invited to take the written tests) only 15 candidates had passed the strictest criteria established in the Rules (ie, above 60% in the EU Knowledge Test and above 75% in the combination of the 3 EN Tests) and only 50 candidates in total had passed the double threshold of 60% correct answers in EU Knowledge and the average of 60% correct answers in the 3 EN Tests.

ACDEI (Government of Kosovo) and ECLO, while carrying out a double check on the corrections made on the EN Tests, took a first decision of not considering essential for passing this stage of the selections the results of the EU General Knowledge Test. Together with this decision it has also been established that the results of the EN Tests alone would form the ranking order upon which inviting candidates to the interviews.

The reason for this, on the one hand, lies in the fact that grantees will be awarded a grant to actually study European Affairs in different disciplines and therefore this knowledge will be acquired during the Master Programmes. On the other hand, in depth knowledge of the English language remains still essential to be able to successfully attend such Programmes.

This said, the EU Knowledge Test will still count towards the final score, and the number of correct answers in that test will be counted towards the final ranking after interviews.

With the above in mind, and after the double check of the written exams paper, a total of only 64 candidates, against the 100 required by the YCS Rules of Procedure, was found to have an average of at least 60% of correct answers on the 3 EN Tests.

On the basis of the above, a final decision was taken yesterday, Friday 25th April, to invite the first 100 applicants from the results of the EN Tests (ie, the first 100 who scored the highest percentage of correct answers in the combined 3 EN Tests, in fact 101 candidates as candidates ranked 100 and 101 are at ex-aequo). However, in view of the relatively not satisfying results of the written test and aware of the need to select only suitable candidates with the necessary linguistic skills, ECLO, in agreement with ACDEI, has decided to make surely available only 30 scholarships instead of the 50 initially announced. The remaining 20 grants may also be awarded in so far as enough suitable candidates will be judged by the Interviews Panels as possessing the minimum requirements and skills to attend a Master Programme in a EU University.

DOWNLOAD HERE THE LIST OF CANDIDATES INVITED TO THE INTERVIEWS OF 7th, 8th and 9th MAY

DOWNLOAD HERE THE LIST OF THE OTHER CANDIDATES

The interviews will always take place on 7th, 8th and 9th of May. The exact interviews schedule for each invited candidate and the precise location of the interviews will be published on the YCS website on Wednesday 29th April by the end of the afternoon.

Other than the above, ACDEI and ECLO, in order to increase the number of potentially suitable candidates, are also considering to invite to take the YCS Selections’ written tests those undergraduate candidates who were initially declared ineligible (as long as they presented a complete application and all other criteria are met). A final decision on this matter will be published on the website no later than Monday 27th April end of business. In case there will be an additional written exam for these applicants the Tests will take place on Thursday 30th April, in a venue that will later be specified.

Undergraduate candidates in the first 100 are required to bring proof of their degrees no later than Tuesday 5th of May at 17h00 in the YCS office in KIPA (ie, where applications have been submitted).  

All candidates who have a degree from a Private University must bring proof of the accreditation and recognition of their degree in Kosovo by no later than Tuesday 5th May at 17h00, in line with Administrative Instruction UA (I) 21/2006, Art. 5, paragraph 2, of 31.05.2006 and Decision of The Minister of Education nr. 400/01-B, of 20.03.09. Such proof may be required to the Ministry of Education and it will be the responsibility of candidates to seek for it. Provision of a valid and accredited degree is mandatory.

Please, consult regularly the website of the YCS for further news on the interviews.

NB: the lists published on the website are in ranking order of the average % of correct answers in the EN tests.
Also, kindly note that the scoring of the Pre-Selection stage has been updated for candidates F.Smaili, A.Bektashi, P.Muharremi and A.Hyseni due to material mistakes by the YCS Secretariat.

NEWS: 17/04/2009: Publication of Results from the correction of the Written Tests Delayed.

The correction panel for the written tests has finished its work as planned on Friday 17th in the late afternoon. The number of candidates that has passed the minimum requirements set in the YCS Rules of Applications is considerably below 100. For this reason, the Government of Kosovo and ECLO have decided to discuss whether to confirm or not the availability of 50 scholarships, as initially announced in the YCS call for applications. A decision on this matter will be taken next week. Once decided the number of scholarships that will be awarded, results will be made public and suitable candidates will be invited to the interviews. After publication of the results, individual files will be available for consultation from the applicants.

NEWS: 6/04/2009: The First Stage of YCS Round VI Selections is now over, and suitable candidates have been pre-selected for the written exams that will take place in Pristina on Friday 10 and Saturday 11. Due to the high number of Applications written exams will take place over 2 days instead that only one as initially planned.

You can download here the lists of applicants who have been invited to sit the written exams on FRIDAY 10 APRIL .

You can download here the lists of applicants who have been invited to sit the written exams on SATURDAY 11 APRIL .

For both days of exam (10 and 11 April), the timetable is the following:

08h30 - 09h15 Registration of Applicants for the day
09h15 - 12h15 English Tests (3 parts, Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprhension, and Grammar Knowledge)
12h15 - 13h30 Break
13h30 - 14h45 EU General Knowledge Test

The written exams will be held in the premises of the American University in Kosovo, Gërmia Campus, Nazim Gafurri 21, Pristina

Here you find the RULES of conduct during the written exams . Please read them carefully if you are taking part to the exams.

You can download here the SCORES of each pre-selected applicant.

You can download here also the list of those applications that have been REJECTED, and the reasons for the rejection .

For your information you can still download here the Rules of Procedure for the Selection Process and its evaluation and scoring grid .

For more information you can also consult the Call for Applications advertisement, which was published in newspapers and online, and which can still be downloaded here in English ,  in Albanian or in Serbian

For queries on the selection process you can also contact us by email: info(at)ycs2009.eu

FOR APPLICANTS:

to prepare yourself to one part of the written test you can already download here the booklet Europe in 12 Lessons , by Pascale Fontaine, published by the European Commission , as well as you can download here the Fact-Sheets about EU (2004) , published by the European Parliament.