study bursaries from the Directorate-General for Interpretation (deadline 15 September)

There are bursaries available from the Directorate-General for Interpretation of the European Commission  for aspiring conference interpreters wishing to enrol on an MA course in conference interpreting. Conditions apply and the bursaries are restricted to certain language combinations.

IF

• you are a national of an EU Member State or of one of the candidate countries (Croatia, FYROM, Iceland and Turkey);
• you already have a university degree or equivalent qualification, or are in the final year of a course leading to a university degree or equivalent qualification;
• you have one of the following language combinations:

1. Excellent command of your mother tongue, and a perfect understanding of

a) at least one of the following languages : Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and
b) of one or more of the following languages : Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish or of the language of a candidate country (Croatian, Macedonian, Icelandic, Turkish);

2. Excellent command of two languages (to mother tongue level) of which one is a language mentioned under 1.a above and the other one of the languages mentioned under 1.b ;
3. Excellent command of your active language and a perfect understanding of at least two of the languages mentioned under 1.a ;

AND IF
 
you have applied or intend to apply for a full postgraduate course in conference interpreting offered for the year 2011/2012 by a recognised university or university-level institution

then you may apply for a Study BURSARY from the Directorate General for Interpretation.

In granting study bursaries, preference will be given to applicants offering a language combination which is most suited to DG Interpretation’s current and foreseeable requirements, in particular those with languages of the countries which joined the EU since 2004 or of the candidates countries and with less widely spoken EU languages. Assessment will be based on your full language combination, as well as other qualifications or expertise;
Please, note that

• Candidates who have received a bursary and pass their final examinations must undertake to sit an inter-institutional accreditation test and if successful, to give the EU Institutions first call upon their services for a period of three years;
• DG Interpretation bursary is intended as a contribution towards study expenses, but not necessarily covering all costs. It can be combined with additional funds provided by the university, by the Member State or by other public or private bodies;
• DG Interpretation bursary holders may not benefit at the same time from other bursaries or allowances offered by the European Union.
• Abandoning the course voluntarily during the postgraduate year may make you liable to repay all or part of the bursary;
• Subsequent recruitment as a freelance interpreter by DG Interpretation depends on the applicant's passing their final examinations and the relevant inter-institutional accreditation test;
• In awarding bursaries, DG Interpretation will endeavour to maintain an appropriate gender balance;
• Where the postgraduate course is of more than one-year duration, only final year students will be eligible. 

Further information and a list of the paperwork necessary for the application can be found at http://scic.ec.europa.eu/europa/jcms/c_6344/dg-interpretation-bursaries. The deadline is 15 September 2011.