Questions and Answers

2016 KOICA Scholarship Program

Dissemination Workshop
1. Can the study plan/research proposal be changed after we successfully pass the
scholarship and go to study in Korea? Is there any supervisor guiding us for our thesis
writing process?

- After the applicants successfully pass the scholarship and go to study in Korea,
they can change their study plan following the significant of their studies/interests.
The Korean Professor will help the applicants and provide comments and
suggestions if necessary for the thesiss topic the applicants select.

2. Who have the authority to sign on the recommendations letter and nomination letter?

- For recommendation letter, your universitys professors or your supervisors at

your workplace can be your recommenders. Your supervisors can be a chief/vice
chief of office, Director/Deputy Director of the Department, Director
General/Deputy Director General or the other higher ranking officials.

- For nomination letter, the person who has the authority to sing must be the
Director of the Department/ Director General/Secretariat General/Under Secretary
of State/Secretary of State/ Minister. In case, you are working at the local or sub-
national level, you need to get the signature from the head of the institution you
are working for (Ex: Director of Provincial Health Department, Director of
Provincial Department of Rural Developmentetc.).

3. Do all the courses limit only for the designated ministries/organizations listed in the
List of Master Courses?

- No, it is not. All officials working at the Cambodia Ministries or public institutions
can apply every Master course they are interested in even though their
ministries/organizations are not mentioned in the list. However, they have to make
sure that their work and the course are relevant.

4. If we do not have English test like TOEFL and IELTS, can we apply? And if we have
English Test (TOEFL/IELTS), do we need to take English Test arranged by KOICA?
What will be in the English Test?

- The KOICA scholarship program does not require applicants to have English Test
because we will arrange the English Proficiency Test for every applicant who
submits the complete application package to KOICA Cambodia Office. The test
will be done at Cambodia-Korea Cooperation Center (CKCC), Royal University of
Phnom Penh (RUPP).

- All applicants require to take English Proficiency Test arranged by KOICA even
though they have the TOEFL/IELTS test score. The Test aims mainly to measure
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 the level of writing ability of each applicant because all successful KOICA
scholarship holders will require to write the thesis for graduation.

- There are three parts in the English Proficiency Test: Listening, Reading and
Writing. For writing section, there are two tasks: summary article and opinion
writing. All applicants require to pass the average score of the English test to be
qualified for the shortlist of the 1st interview. Note*: For writing section, the tests
will be designed following the sectors of the Master course you are applying for
such as Governance, Agriculture and Rural Development, Economic Development,
ICT and Health sector.

5. If we already had a Masters Degree, can we apply the KOICA Masters Degree
Scholarship?

- Yes, you can apply if the Masters Degree you are holding is not under the
scholarship program supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea. This
means you have never been studied a Masters Degree in Korea under the support
of the Korean Government.

6. Does the KOICA Scholarship Program limit the number of applicants from each
Ministry to apply for the master course?

- We do not limit the number of applicants from each Ministry. One

Ministry/organization can nominate as many officials as possible to apply our
Master scholarship program. We will select the candidates following their
qualification and competitiveness.

7. Should the applicant apply as normal individual or as the Government official of the
Ministry or public institution they are working for?

- All applicants need to apply the KOICA scholarship program as the government
officials or public employees because our scholarship opens only for the officials
from Cambodian government and public institutions. In the application package,
the applicants will be requested to submit some supporting documents to verify
their employment and the permission from their Ministry/Organization to apply for
the scholarship program such as employment certificate, nomination letter,
recommendation letter .etc. The detail requirements are mentioned in the
Scholarship guidance and Program Information of each course.

8. Does the KOICA Scholarship Program limit the age of the applicants?

- It depends on the requirement of each university. We recommend all applicants to

check the Program Information (PI) of each Master course for detail information.
Some school might limit the age of applicants and some might not.

9. Can the temporary government officials apply for this scholarship?

- Of course, they can apply for the KOICA scholarship program. However, they
need to submit the official document/letter to verify their employment at the
Ministry/institution they are working for.

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10. If we do not meet the schools requirements, can we still apply?

- It is depend. For example, if your work experience does not met the school
requirement or you do not have the TOEFL/IELTS test score, you still can apply
for that course. However, if you have no BA degree or not a public employee, you
cannot apply our scholarship program.

11. If we have difficulty in requesting nomination letter, can we submit it latter?

- Yes of course. You can submit the nomination letter to us after you submit the
application package. However, you have to guarantee that you can request the
letter from you workplace and submit to us before the second interview.