Kenyan students have been urged to take advantage of the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship and apply for programmes offered in various fields.
The program which also offers courses in the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), benefits students for undergraduate, masters, doctoral (PhD/DLA) studies in any field of interest and one tier Master’s.
Principal Secretary, State Department for University Education and Research Ambassador Simon Nabukwesi cited STEM as some of the areas the government was putting a lot of emphasis to promote industrialization and achievement of other national development priorities as delineated in Vision 2030 and those in the Big Four Agenda which include agriculture, manufacturing medical sciences and architecture.
Speaking during the Hungary Education Fair at a Nairobi hotel, Nabukwesi thanked the Hungary government for allocating 200 scholarships to Kenyan students to study in their country.
“We thank the Hungarian government for offering scholarships for Kenyan students since 2016/2017 academic year under the program,” he said.
The PS said the scholarship programme which is a bilateral cooperation between the Kenyan and Hungarian governments, launched in 2013 as part of the government policy called ‘Eastern and Southern Opening’ is aimed at increasing the number of foreign students in Hungary and encourage Hungarian higher education institutions to attract foreign students.
He said since the inception of the program, the country has witnessed an increase in the number of Kenyan awardees and rise in the number of scholarships which he said has strengthened the cordial relations and collaboration between the two countries in the area of higher education.
“We are looking forward to other areas of collaboration in research and technology that would also benefit post-doctoral studies and even technical and vocational education and training,” he added.
Amb. Nabukwesi said Kenya was implementing the new government policy of 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary education and Competency Based Curriculum which will see a larger number of students qualify to pursue higher education.
“It is our humble prayer to the government of Hungary that the number of scholarships be increased in future to cater for more deserving students,” he stated.
By Tracy Njeri
