Higher education and upward mobility increasingly inaccessible to poor in the US

Kathleen Martin

As the gap between rich and poor grows, so does the disparity in the attainment of higher education and, in turn, upward social mobility.

A study published in late April by the Urban Institute focused on wealth and social mobility shows that individuals from high-wealth families are more than 1.5 times as likely to complete two to four years of college by age 25 than those from low-wealth households.

Household wealth is measured by total family wealth relative to others in the study (including home equity), and upward social mobility is defined as “the likelihood an individual whose parents did not graduate from college completes at least two or four years of college.”

Participants of the study were broken into four household wealth quartiles: high, $223,438 and above; middle-high, $45,000-$223,437; low-middle, $2,000-$45,000; and low, $2,000 and less.

Data released last year in a separate study by the Pew Charitable Trusts gives a better idea of how many people in the population would fall into each category more generally. While both studies break data into different wealth brackets, loosely comparing the correlating statistics to correctly understand the placement of most Americans into these quartiles gives a better idea of how many people are actually likely to climb out of economic despair, or to have “social mobility.”

Nearly one-fifth, or 19.34 percent, of all US households total have negative wealth. Negative wealth means that the total sum of all debts exceeds the value of that household’s assets. If correlated to the results of this study, one-fifth of the population would automatically fall into the “low-wealth” quartile of $2,000 or less used in the Urban Institute study.

Others have noted that this section of the population with negative wealth is expected to increase rapidly in the near future due to the massive amounts of student loan debt weighing on millions of young college graduates today, with small likelihood of repaying the debt and even less likelihood of being able to afford a house or even a car of their own.

The authors of the study note: “We analyze total wealth, not relying exclusively on housing wealth.” However, the poorest households lost the greatest total portions of their wealth following the 2008 mortgage crisis, including what is commonly the largest contributor to a working class person’s wealth: their home. The youth participating in the study from this section of the population have only a 30 percent chance of completing two years of college, and a 14 percent chance of completing four.

“[O]nly 29 percent of youth from the bottom quartile of the family wealth distribution complete two or more years of college education,” the study notes, “and only 26 percent are upwardly mobile—that is, complete at least two years when neither parent graduated from college.” In comparison, 78 percent of youth in the top quartile complete two or more years of higher education, and 61 percent are upwardly mobile. The study also notes that this latter disparity widens when contrasting the differences between the quartiles and four-year degree completion.

The next quartile, low-middle, is a household whose wealth is anywhere from $2,000 to $45,000. According to the Pew data, 13.42 percent of US households have wealth ranging from zero to $19,999, with over half of that percentage falling closer to the low end. The remaining 6.31 percent makes up households with $5,000 to $19,999 in wealth.

The study did not gather specific information on academic success, employment during college, whether or not the participant had children, and what kind of institution the participant was enrolled in. This, too, makes a difference, given that the majority of low-income (and likely low-wealth) students cannot afford to attend 95 percent of American higher education institutions. Youth with family responsibilities and full-time jobs, unstable housing, and a host of other challenges are much less likely to have success academically than their wealthy peers.

While the parents of students from low-income and low-wealth families are not expected to contribute as much financially to the cost of their child’s tuition, and while overall the cost of attending a junior or community college is much less expensive than a traditional four-year college, the financial strain is proportionally greater on families with less money.

“These results suggest that family wealth can help children complete college, even holding constant other characteristics such as family income and education,” the authors of the Urban Institute concluded. “Wealth might provide the needed resources for families to get their children in and through college, or wealthier families may live in areas with better schools and social networks that help them get to college.”

Pentagon in talks with Baghdad on permanent US occupation of Iraq

Bill Van Auken

The Trump administration and the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi are engaged in negotiations over a proposal that would maintain a permanent US troop presence in Iraq, according to American and Iraqi officials cited by the Associated Press (AP).

The talks come more than 14 years after the US military invaded the country and unleashed a bloodbath that cost over a million lives and left the entire country shattered. The ostensible purpose of the permanent US presence is to train Iraqi forces and to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) after the anticipated fall of its last stronghold in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.

Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis, who commanded the 1st Marine Division during the Iraq invasion and was responsible for numerous atrocities committed in the country, is leading the talks with Iraqi officials, according to the AP report.

The Obama administration formally withdrew US forces, which at their highpoint numbered 170,000, in 2011. The American military presence, however, never fully ended. Under the so-called Operation Inherent Resolve launched in 2014 following the overrunning of Mosul and a broad swathe of Iraq by ISIS, US forces have risen officially to 5,000, while the real number of troops is well over 7,000 as the Pentagon uses temporary deployments to escalate the American intervention.

According to the AP, US forces would remain after Mosul’s fall, deployed in at least five bases around the city as well as ones on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

“There is a general understanding on both sides that it would be in the long-term interests of each to have that continued presence,” a US official told the news agency. “So as for agreement, yes, we both understand it would be mutually beneficial. That we agree on.”

The official said that the number of American troops that would remain indefinitely in Iraq would be “several thousand...similar to what we have now, maybe a little more.”

The discussions are unfolding under the shadow of the more than six-month-long bloody US-backed offensive by Iraqi government forces against Mosul. American warplanes, Apache attack helicopters and heavy artillery have played a decisive role in the siege, reducing much of the city to rubble and inflicting thousands of civilian casualties. US special operations troops are participating alongside Iraqi forces in the battle to retake the city.

In the latest atrocity, a strike by US warplanes killed at least 11 civilians in a district of western Mosul on Thursday. The Shafaaq news web site, quoting local sources, reported that women and children were among the dead.

The Pentagon routinely denies responsibility for civilian deaths or grossly underestimates the toll inflicted by American airstrikes. It has been compelled, however, to open an investigation into a March 17 attack that is estimated to have killed over 200 people, including over 100 people who had taken refuge in one house.

After the horrific scale of the carnage inflicted by the strike became known, both US and Iraqi military spokesmen attempted to blame the deaths on ISIS, claiming that it had herded people into a house booby-trapped with explosives and then lured the American warplanes into attacking it.

Survivors of the airstrike have angrily denounced these claims as lies. The survivors, according to AP, “described a horrifying battlefield where airstrikes and artillery pound neighborhoods relentlessly, trying to root out ISIS militants, leveling hundreds of buildings, many with civilians inside, despite the constant flight of surveillance drones overhead.”

Ali Zanoun, one of only two people to survive the strike on the house where more than 100 died, told the news agency that it had belonged to a local businessman who had sheltered a dozen families seeking refuge. It was thought to be safe because it was only two stories and therefore not of use to ISIS snipers. Zanoun denied that ISIS had ever entered the house, much less planted explosives there.

Zanoun spent five days buried in the rubble, surrounded by the remains of 20 members of his family, before he was rescued. “My entire family is gone,” Zanoun told AP. “They melted. Not even a fingernail or a little bone found.”

According to Iraq Body Count, an independent monitoring group, US airstrikes killed 1,117 people in western Mosul in March and April alone. The UN, meanwhile, has released evidence showing that 1,590 residential buildings have been destroyed in western Mosul over the same period.

At least 400,000 people have been displaced by the US-backed siege, while conditions for the hundreds of thousands more who remain in western Mosul are described as catastrophic. The same Western media that last year cried crocodile tears about conditions in Aleppo, Syria, in order to feed US war propaganda against Russia and the Syrian government, has largely ignored the bloodbath now unfolding barely 300 miles to the east.

If the US and Iraqi government forces do succeed in retaking all of Mosul, while reducing this ancient city on the banks of the Tigris river to rubble, it will by no means spell an end to the savage conflict that was unleashed by the US invasion in 2003.

Sectarian divisions, manipulated by the US occupation as part of a divide-and-rule strategy, will only be exacerbated by the siege. It is being waged by a predominantly Shia army, backed by Shia sectarian and Kurdish militias, against a largely Sunni population, which had bitterly resented repression by the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad before ISIS took control in 2014.

Washington will no doubt utilize continuing sectarian conflict as a pretext for maintaining and escalating its military intervention in the country. The aim of this intervention, like the 2003 invasion itself, will be to further the drive for US hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East and to counter the considerable influence of Iran in Iraq and the region as a whole.

Puerto Rican bankruptcy: A prelude to savage austerity and pension cuts

Rafael Azul & Jerry White 

Puerto Rico formally declared bankruptcy on May 3 before a special tribunal created last year. The island, a US territory, had budgeted $800 million for the next five years’ debt payments, far short of the $3.5 billion creditors are demanding. As expected, the creditors, which include large Wall Street hedge funds, rejected the offer.

With this declaration, Puerto Rico became the first US territory or state to place itself into a process like the municipal bankruptcies, which have become increasingly common in the United States. Officially Puerto Rico owes some $72 billion to various vulture funds and another $50 billion for so-called unfunded pension liabilities to public employees.

Since January 2, when newly elected governor Ricardo Rosselló declared the island in a financial emergency it has been an open secret that the MIT-educated leader of the New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista-PNP) and former Hillary Clinton delegate at the Democratic National Convention would throw the island into bankruptcy.

While Puerto Rico was historically barred from declaring bankruptcy, Congress enacted a law last year allowing bankruptcy-like proceedings. According to the PROMISE Act legislation passed last year in Congress and signed by Obama, a US Supreme Court justice will now appoint a tribunal to oversee the bankruptcy process. While this includes forcing creditors to accept a reduction in the principal and accumulated interest, it is certain that the interests of Wall Street will take precedence over those of working-class Puerto Ricans, just as it did in Detroit in 2013-14.

During the Detroit bankruptcy, US federal judge Steven Rhodes used the bankruptcy law to override state constitutional protections and slash the pensions and health benefits of city employees while organizing a fire sale of public assets. Rhodes was hired as an adviser in 2015 by Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro García Padilla, along with former New York Lt. Governor Richard Ravitch, who co-chaired Obama’s “State Budget Crisis Task Force” that called for nationwide pension cuts and financial restructuring.

At the time, Rhodes declared that Puerto Rico “was exactly like Detroit.” In fact, the island’s debt of more than $120 billion is larger than Detroit’s by a factor of nearly seven, and its liquidation will require even more savage attacks.

Accumulated interest represents at least two-thirds of the debt. The hedge fund managers and their high-powered legal firms are expected to fiercely oppose any measure that reduces their anticipated gains.

The new, and unelected, tribunal will be in charge or “restructuring” the island’s economy, i.e., destroy education, pensions, social programs; privatize public property; sack and further destroy the living standards of Puerto Rican workers, in the interests of bondholders.

As the New York Times noted Wednesday, “While the court proceedings could eventually make the island solvent for the first time in decades, the more immediate repercussions will likely be grim: Government workers will forgo pension money, public health and infrastructure projects will go wanting, and the “brain drain” the island has been suffering as professionals move to the mainland could intensify.”

The outcome is likely to be even worse than the fiscal plan outlined by Governor Rosselló, which calls for shifting all current government workers from pensions into 401(k)-style retirement plans. Current retirees will continue to receive their traditional monthly pensions, but the amounts are to be reduced by about 10 percent on average. The governor says this is the only alternative to the sacking of 45,000 public sector employees.

The declaration of bankruptcy crowns a decade-long process of recession and austerity affecting the living standards of the Puerto Rican middle and working class, and causing an exodus of emigrants to the US mainland (an option not available to the thousands of undocumented Haitian, Dominican, Jamaican workers, and those of other nationalities, residing in Puerto Rico). Up until June 2015 the collapse in living standards had been tempered somewhat through the issuance of Puerto Rican bonds.

The bankruptcy declaration occurred two days after a general strike and massive Mayday protests and by thousands of Puerto Rican workers denouncing plans to gut workers’ pensions and benefits. The demonstrators marched on San Juan’s financial district, many wearing black shirts, and chanting, “Ricky is selling our island!” in a reference to the hated governor. Large numbers of workers consider the debt illegitimate and refuse to pay for it.

The trade unions, however, are determined to block any serious struggle against the political establishment and the Wall Street banks. After a meeting with the governor last week, Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees called on Rosselló to include the unions in the restructuring process. AFSCME has 13,000 members in Puerto Rico inside the Union Servidores Públicos Unidos (SPU).

In an interview with elnuevodia.com, Saunders said, “We think we should have a seat at the table, especially in discussions that have to do with the reducing health benefits and pensions. We may have ideas that should be heard.

“We are not alien to these problems. Although in the case of Puerto Rico this is a larger problem, we were involved in the bankruptcy of Detroit and we were responsible partners but with a seat at the discussion table. Some of our ideas were accepted, and the union proved to be a responsible partner.”

Indeed, AFSCME and the other unions played the key role in blocking the mobilization of the working class against the looting of pensions, health care and public assets and preventing the “civil unrest” bankruptcy officials anticipated.

Wednesday’s announcement is bound to increase social tensions and the class struggle on the island as the population faces the same predatory measures imposed on the workers of Detroit, Greece and elsewhere.

Since the announcement in June 2015 that Puerto Rican debt could not be paid, most of the austerity measures, including those under the terms of the PROMISE act, such as the closure of hundreds of schools and sacking of thousands of teachers, have impacted the working class and poor people. Already two-fifths of Puerto Ricans live in extreme poverty, by US and Caribbean standards.

Among those who oppose any federal rescue package is President Donald Trump himself, who declared his opposition in Twitter, saying that there should be “no bailout” for the island. However, the bankruptcy restructuring of Puerto Rico will set a new precedent for savage attacks on workers throughout the United States.

As the Times noted, “While many of Puerto Rico’s circumstances are unique, its case is also a warning sign for many American states and municipalities—such as Illinois and Philadelphia—that are facing some of the same strains, including rising pension costs, crumbling infrastructure, departing taxpayers and credit downgrades that make it more expensive to raise money.”

The human cost of the US-Mexico border: More than 6,000 bodies found since 2000

Eric London

Between 2000 and 2016, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has discovered the remains of 6,023 undocumented people who died crossing from Mexico into the United States.

This shocking figure, cited in a May 4 article in the New York Times, underreports the total death toll. According to one Texas sheriff, “I would say for every one [body] we find, we’re probably missing five.” That is, the number of undiscovered bodies could be in the tens of thousands.

Bodies turn up along the US-Mexico border “with stunning regularity,” the Times report notes. In one border area, Brooks County, Texas, 550 bodies have been discovered since January 2009, the month of Barack Obama’s inauguration. At a single ranch in Texas, 31 bodies have been discovered since 2014. CBP unceremoniously throws some of the bodies together in “cluster graves,” often without removing them from biohazard bags.

Many of the bodies are unrecognizable, charred from the desert sun or picked away by vultures. Along well-traveled migrant paths, “the dead line the way.” Cadavers belonging to children are found alongside their stuffed animals. One woman who froze to death was found wearing a plastic trash bag for warmth.

In 2015, Francisco Gonzalez, a former machinist from Mexico, called emergency services from the middle of the desert, begging border patrol to arrest him to save his life. He told the dispatcher he was returning to the US to meet his newborn daughter for the first time, after having been deported for driving under the influence by the Obama administration. When officials could not locate him, Gonzalez gave the dispatcher his wife’s phone number and said, “Call her and tell her I didn’t make it. Call her and tell her I love her and for her to take care of our baby.” He died in the desert shortly thereafter.

Daniel Martinez, an assistant professor of sociology at George Washington University, told the Times, “If this were any other context, if these were deaths as a result of a mass flood or an earthquake or a major plane crash, people would be talking about this being a mass disaster.”

Indeed, the Times notes that the total number of bodies is greater than the total number killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks and Hurricane Katrina combined. And despite the drop in immigration since the election of Donald Trump, the number of bodies found in the first months of 2017 already equals the number found in all of 2010.

The mass casualties along the US-Mexico border are the outcome of deliberate policies of the US government, both Democrat and Republican, going back at least two decades. Under programs like “Operation Gatekeeper” and “Operation Hold-the-Line,” first enacted under Democratic President Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s, the government secured heavily populated border crossings with military defenses and increased patrols concentrated in cities like San Diego, California and El Paso, Texas.

The consequence was entirely predictable and indeed predicted. Immigrants fleeing economic and political crisis were forced to cross through deadly desert regions, where temperature can exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius).

Further barriers to entry were erected under Bush (including with the Secure Fence Act of 2006, supported by Democrats) and under Obama. The “deporter-in-chief” Obama signed legislation in 2010 that further militarized the US border with the use of Predator drones, and deployed 1,500 National Guard troops to keep out desperate migrants.

Now, under Trump, the American ruling class is going even further. Along with the construction of a “wall” on the US-Mexico border, Trump is pledging to “unshackle” border control agents, who function as a modern-day Gestapo.

The Trump administration has already deported tens of thousands and plans on hiring thousands of immigration and border control officials. Mass detention centers established under Obama are being doubled in size, and the federal government is working with police agencies across the country to round up immigrants. The Trump administration has established a program, known as VOICE, the aim of which is to publicly denounce immigrants charged with crimes in a manner similar to the Nazi press’s attacks against Jewish criminal defendants in the 1930s.

The refugee crisis is the product of imperialism and the irrational capitalist nation-state system.

The thousands of impoverished people who die in the US deserts are fleeing poverty and war caused by decades of imperialist exploitation and US military intervention across every corner of the world. The US laid waste to the entire Central American isthmus, backing dictators, funding death squads, and fanning the flames of civil wars which left hundreds of thousands dead through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

The story is the same in the Middle East and North Africa, where a record number of migrants are escaping US-backed wars in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere, desperately seeking refuge in Europe and drowning by the thousands in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2015, the UN reported that there are an unprecedented 65.3 million refugees, more than the entire population of the United Kingdom.

Advances in technology have brought humanity to a level of world interconnectivity that would have been unthinkable even 30 years ago. Cell phones, the Internet, global supply chains, and advances in transportation mean that residents of the world’s most isolated villages can communicate with friends and loved ones in the world’s metropolises and learn of world events at the swipe of a finger.

But the potential for human progress is restrained by the fact that a handful of exploiters control the world’s productive forces and dictate the policies of governments.

As a result, conflicts between nation states intensify and a third world war is an immediate possibility. Far-right parties in the US, UK, France, Germany and elsewhere are being brought into government, directing popular opposition to inequality and poverty against immigrants. Under the banner of national supremacy each major power, as Leon Trotsky wrote in his 1934 essay Nationalism and Economic Life, is “protecting himself by a customs wall and a hedge of bayonets.”

The Socialist Equality Party opposes the division of the world into competing nation states and opposes all forms of nationalism, the poisonous ideology of this outdated system. As the 18th century philosopher Montesquieu said, “I am necessarily a man, only accidentally am I French.” The SEP insists that all people have the right to travel safely as they choose, without visas, passports, or the threat of harassment or deportation.

This cannot be accomplished so long as a tiny section of the world’s population controls its wealth and defends it with hedges of bayonets—and nuclear weapons. To bring the international character of the world economy into harmony with the material needs of the world working class requires world socialist revolution.

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) CONFINTEA Scholarship 2017

Application Deadline: 31st May 2017

Offered Annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: UNESCO Member States

About the Award:  CONFINTEA Scholarships generally run every September, though under special circumstances, Scholarships may run in other months. CONFINTEA Scholars conduct their research at the UIL Library for a period of one month. In addition, they have the opportunity to exchange knowledge with other scholars, UIL staff and UIL’s external partners.

Type: Short courses

Eligibility: Researchers and education professionals from UNESCO Member States who work in the area of lifelong learning with a focus on adult education and continuing education, literacy and non-formal basic education.

Participants are selected on the basis of their potential to produce:

• policy proposals;
• programme tools;
• articles; and
• research papers

that can be shared with decision-makers in their home countries.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Program: UIL covers travel and accommodation costs and contributes a lump sum of €500 towards the costs of food, visas, etc.

How to Apply: Successful candidates will be informed in early June. Subscribe to our newsletter to keep informed about upcoming calls for applications. If you have any questions, please contact the CONFINTEA Scholarship Coordinator, Ms Lisa Krolak.

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL)

Women PeaceMakers Fellowship Program for Female Peacebuilders 2017 (Funded to San Diego)

Application Deadline: 31st May  2017

To be taken at (country):  Institute for Peace and Justice at the Kroc School at the University of San Diego.

About the Award: International peace efforts often fail. We need to learn how to do better. Building on 15 years of the Women PeaceMakers program, we believe that strengthening collaborations between expert “insiders” to these conflicts — specifically women peacemakers — and “outsiders” supporting peace efforts, can transform how we do peacebuilding. During the 10-month fellowship, the program will focus on the question:

How can Women PeaceMakers and international partners build more effective local-global collaborations in their peacebuilding efforts to engage the security sector?

Type: Fellowship

Selection Criteria: Participants will be selected based on their work with the security sector (police, military and other security forces) to advance peacebuilding, human security and women’s rights in local contexts

Number of Awards: 8

Value of Program: Over a 10-month fellowship, the cohort of eight will engage in an active learning community with in-person residencies and a virtual learning exchange to explore successes and challenges to their work ending cycles of violence. Using the program’s established methodologies of critical reflection and co-created learning, the cohort will design shared commitments for stronger, more effective collaboration on key issues.

Duration of Program: 10 months

How to Apply: Interested candidates can apply here 

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: Kroc School, University of San Diego.

Bloomberg/Ford Foundation Community Media Fund for African Media 2017($10,000 USD Grant)

Application Deadline: 24th May 2017 at 17.00hrs East Africa Time (EAT) (UTC+3).

Eligible Countries: Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

About the Award: The CMF seeks to award grants to key civil society organizations, community media and non-governmental organisations in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to strengthen citizen journalism, enhance the financial literacy of citizens, improve their access to relevant data and build the capacity of community media to improve governance and accountability through analysis and reporting.

Concept notes from eligible organizations who are implementing interventions in the following thematic areas are currently being accepted:

• Producing and disseminating media content on their host communities; and or

• Focusing on transparency and accountability, financial Journalism, financial literacy, greater access to data, social justice, or investigative reporting.

Type: Grants

Eligibility: Eligible grant applicants must:

1. Be an Africa-focused and headquartered:
   • Civil society organisation (CSO)/non-governmental organisation (NGO) supporting community media; or
   • Media training institution; or
   • Community media outlet, including an outlet affiliated with educational institutions; or
   • Network of community media; or
   • CSO/NGO supporting initiatives that increase the visibility of emerging non-traditional reporters; or a
   • CSO/NGO focusing on transparency, accountability and financial literacy at the community level.
2. Be registered in good standing in accordance with the relevant laws of Kenya or Nigeria or South Africa.
3. Be directly responsible for the preparation, implementation and management of the proposed project.
4. Have prior experience carrying out activities in priority areas of this RFP, specifically:
   • producing and disseminating media content on their host communities; and/or
   • focusing on transparency and accountability, financial Journalism, financial literacy, greater access to data, social justice, or investigative reporting.
5. Must have a bank account and be willing to open a separate account for the grant. and
6. Must have certified financial audit reports.

For more details on eligibility and application requirements for the CMF call for concept notes please download the full CMF Request for Proposals (RFP) document from the right sidebar.

Number of Awards: Not  specified

Value of Program: The minimum grant amount is $10,000 USD.

Duration of Program: The CMF will have two rounds of a call for proposals.  This is the first round.  The second round will be in 2018.

How to Apply: To apply please download the Concept Note Proposal submission form in the right sidebar.  The deadline for the submission of concept notes is 24 May 2017 at 17.00hrs East Africa Time (EAT) (UTC+3).  All concept notes must be completed in English.  More details on the application process can be found in the Community Media Fund Request for Proposals (RFP) document in the right sidebar

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) and the Ford Foundation

Government of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowships for International Scientists 2017

Application Deadline: 20th September, 2017 (20:00 EDT)

Offered Annually? Yes

To be taken at (country): Canada

Fields of Research: 

• Health research
• Natural sciences and/or engineering
• Social sciences and/or humanities

About the Award: The objective of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program is to:

• attract and retain top-tier postdoctoral talent, both nationally and internationally
• develop their leadership potential
• position them for success as research leaders of tomorrow

Fellowships are distributed equally among the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility: 

• Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to apply with the stipulations sstated in the Program (Link below)
• Applicants to the 2017-18 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program must fulfill or have fulfilled all degree requirements for a PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree stated in the Program (Link below)
• Applicants must not hold a tenure-track or tenured faculty position, nor can they be on leave from such a position

Selection Criteria: The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program is unique in its emphasis on the synergy between the following:

• applicant – individual merit and potential to launch a successful research-intensive career
• host institution – commitment to the research program and alignment with the institution’s strategic priorities

An applicant to the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program must complete their application in full collaboration with the proposed host institution.

Number of Awards: 70 fellowships are awarded annually

Value of Program: $70,000 per year (taxable)

Duration of Program: 2 years (non-renewable)

How to Apply: It is important to go through the Application Guide before applying for this Fellowship

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: Government of Canada

Important Notes: Interruptions used to extend the eligibility window for degree completion must have occurred after the fulfilment of your degree requirements and before the application submission deadline.

UNESCO-Merck Africa Research Summit (MARS) for African PhD Students 2017

Application Deadline: 30th August 2017

Eligible Countries: African countries

To be taken at (country): 

About the Award: UNESCO-Merck Africa Research Summit-MARS aims to bring together researchers from across Africa to discuss the generation, sharing and dissemination of research data and to preparefor the road ahead in Africa’s development as an international hub for research excellence and scientific innovation.

The annual Summit aims to contribute to building research capacity in the African research community, with special focus on “The Role of Scientific Research in responding to Cancer and Vaccines Development-Two emerging challenge in Africa”. The Summit will also showcase innovative research taking place in projects, programs and initiatives across African universities, and by the wider African research community.

On other note the organizing committee will launch the “Best Young African Researcher Award” and the “Best African Woman Researcher Award” to recognize the outstanding contribution of African female scientist with aim to promote women in research and advance their contribution to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

The annual Summit- UNESCO-MARS will address the vital role of research in the improvement and sustainable development of population health with specific emphasis on how to translate knowledge into action-the ‘know-do gap’- to improve health and make an impact on society.

Type: Events and Conferences, Contest

Eligibility: All should be primarily based at African research institutes and Universities, although collaboration within Africa as well as outside is encouraged. All abstracts will be peer reviewed.

Selection Procedure: 

• All abstracts will be peer reviewed and 100 winners will be eligible for Sponsorship.
• First three winners will be eligible for further number of Research Awards.
• Further Research Award will be dedicated for Best African Women Researchers

Value of Program: The summit is a unique opportunity for Africa’s young and talented scientists to share their research output and findings with the top echelon of scientists from Africa and abroad. It is also an opportunity for networking and career development. The Summit will presents a platform where young and female scientists will be able to discuss the enabling environment for better research among others.

Duration of Program: 28th –  29th November 2017

How to Apply: Apply Now

Submit your paper on submit@mars-awards.com

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: UNESCO (United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization), African Union Scientific,Technical and Research Commission (AU-STRC), the University of Cambridge, UK, University of Rome and Merck.

University of Essex Masters Scholarship 2017/2018 from Select Countries

Application Deadline: 30th of September 2017

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries:  Bangladesh, Canada, China, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, USA and Vietnam can apply for these scholarships.

To be taken at (country): United Kingdom

Eligible Field of Study: Courses offered at the university

About the Award: The University of Essex scholarship will be awarded to any international student from the aforementioned countries, who underwent first degree overseas and is self-funding their postgraduate studies. Awards will be made on the basis of grades obtained in applicants’ first degree, so all applications for relevant courses will automatically be considered. The scholarship is awarded as a partial tuition fee waiver and is available for students on postgraduate taught Masters courses (excluding MBA).

Type: Masters scholarship

Eligibility: In order to apply for one of these scholarships, applicants must satisfy ALL of the following conditions:

• be classified as an international student for fee purposes
• be entirely self-funding their studies
• be applying for a full-time Masters course in 2016-17 (excluding MBA)
• meet the academic criteria in the table above

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: Bangladesh:£4,000, Canada:£2,000, China:£2,500, Ghana:£4,000, Hong Kong:£2,000, India:£4,000, Indonesia:£4,000, Japan:£3,000, Jordan:£2,000, Kazakhstan:£3,000, Malaysia:£4,000, Nigeria:£4,000, Norway:£3,000, Pakistan:£4,000, Russia:£2,000, Taiwan:£3,000, Thailand:£2,000, Turkey:£4,000, USA:£2,000 and Vietnam:£4,000. Paid as discount on tuition fee

Duration of Scholarship: Payable for the first year of tuition fees.

How to Apply:  If applicants meet all the eligibility criteria and firmly accept the offer by 30 September 2016, then they are automatically awarded this scholarship. Applicants will be notified of the award by the end of October 2016.

No need to complete an application form.

We’ll assess your eligibility based on the academic transcripts and certificates that you submit with your application for your place at Essex.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Award Provider: University of Essex, UK

Important Notes: University of Essex Scholarship applications cannot be considered for candidates unless they have already applied for and been offered a place to study at the University. Eligibility of candidates will be based on the academic transcripts and certificates submitted with application for your place at Essex.

Pan African University Masters and PhD Scholarship for African Students 2017

Application Deadline:  31st May 2017

Eligible Countries: African countries and Africans in other countries

To be taken at (countries): 

1. Pan African University Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (PAUSTI), at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya
2. Pan African University Institute for Life and Earth Sciencesincluding Health and Agriculture (PAULESI), at the University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria
3. Pan African University Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (PAUGHSS), at the University of Yaounde IIand the University of Buea, Cameroon.
4. Pan African University Institute for Water and Energy Sciences – including climate change (PAUWES), at the University of Tlemcen, Algeria

Fields of Study: All fields of study are available from the scholarship webpage link below

About the Award: The Pan African University is an initiative of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union. It is a Premier continental university network whose mission is to provide quality postgraduate education geared towards the achievement of a prosperous, integrated and peaceful Africa.

Type: Masters, PhD

Eligibility: Scholarship awardees should be committed to working in Africa after graduation.

Selection Criteria: Candidates with potential, motivation and who desire to play transformative leadership roles as academics, professionals, industrialists, innovators and entrepreneurs are particularly encouraged to apply

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Program: The African Union Commission will offer full scholarships to the successful African candidates.

How to Apply: Applications should be completed online at pau-au.net. Application forms should be downloaded at the following address: pau-au.net

Admission Requirements for Masters Programmes: Candidates must satisfy the following conditions:

1. Undergraduate degree from a recognized university,with at least a second class upper division or its equivalent, in a relevant field;
2. Certified copies of relevant certificates, transcripts (from university and high school), national I.D. card and passport personal details page;
3. Recommendation letters from 2 Professors
4. Clear colored passport size photograph(2cmx2cm);
5. Maximum age of 30 years for male and 35 years for female applicants.

Candidates may be required to undergo a written/oral examination after preselection.

Candidates for the Master in Conference Interpreting and Translation programmes are required to have excellent knowledge of at least two of the African Union’s official languages (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese).

Admission Requirements for Doctoral Programmes Candidates must satisfy the following conditions:

1. A Masters degree in a relevant field from PAU or any internationally recognized university;
2. Certified copies of relevant certificates, transcripts, national I.D. card and passport personal details page;
3. A 3 to 4 page research concept note (tentaive title, research questions, objectives, significance of the research etc…)
4. Recommendation letters from 2 Professors
5. Clear colored passport size photograph (2cmx2cm);
6. Maximum age of 35 years for male and 40 years for female applicants.

Visit Program Webpage for details

Award Provider: The African Union Commission