7th Annual Scholarship Program Now Open
Are Y ou T empted by the I dea of S tudying A broad?
The Bakala Foundation is once again offering its Scholarship Program . A pplications are now being accepted for th e seventh year of this worthwhile pro gram , which provides financial aid to young people interested in completing their undergraduate and graduate studies at prestigious universities abroad . The deadline for submission is May 31, 2016. Applications must be submitted electronically using the form available on the Bakala Foundation website. A key criterion for acceptance is the applicant’s essay , written in English , on a selected topic . C lick here to see this year’s essay topics . The future Bakala Scholars will be chosen through a two – round selection process. During the first round, a panel of experts will evaluate all of the applications . The students submitting the best applications will be in vited to a personal interview , to be held in September 2016 , at which time the final scholarship recipients will be selected. In the past, students have shown great interest in the scholarship pro gram . For example, last year 238 applications were submitted and 22 applicants were invited to participate in the interview s conducted by a selection committee comprising experts from various fields. The top 13 students were awarded a scholarship . The official announcement of the scholarships awarded by the Bakala Foundation in September 2015. The selected students receive financial aid to support their studies at prestigious universities abroad.
Our Scholarship Recipients: Ján Michalčák , President of the Bakala Scholars
Ján Michalčák has been actively following political events since his childhood and is also interested in European history and economics . Since September 2014, he has been studying for his b achelor’s d egree in p olitics and East European s tudies at Britain’s University Co llege London. Thanks to the flexibility of his selected field of study , he is able t o further develop all of his interests and has chosen economics and German to go along with the more traditional political science subjects. Ján also appreciates the emphasis placed on the former Soviet Bloc. Upon his return to the Czech Republic, he wants to become involved in improving the political environment. In addition to attending lectures, Ján is an active academic debater . H e represented the Czech Republic at the World Schools Debat ing Championships held in Cape Town in 2012 and is now continuing his debating activities at the university level. He is an avid reader and a football fan. In January 2016, his fellow scholarship recipients ele cted him to head the Bakala Scholars as their representative. T he group elects a new president every year. Ján Michalčák was preceded in this position by Nikit a Poljakov. Newly elected Bakala Scholars President Ján Michalčák representing the scholarship recipients on the selection committee during the interviews with scholarship applicants.
Counseling Centre – The Student Hub
In late November the Bakala Foundation opened a counseling and support cent er for students interested in completing undergraduate and graduate study pro gram s abr oad. L ectures , prepared in cooperation with students and past Scholarship Pro gram participants and covering all aspects of studying in a foreign country , are offered about three times a month . By prior arrangement, the centre also provides individual consultations . A recent addition is a library containing a wide range of publications and other material providing comprehensive information about the various aspects of the admission processes at foreign universities, such as the SAT and GRE testing requirements and the TOEFL/IELTS language exams.
Achilles Data IV
This is the fourth year the Bakala Foundation is holding a three – month course for students of journalism and other media – related fields. The aim is to familiarize the course participants with basic tools, current trends and in – depth journalism methods in a way that they will subsequently be able to ap ply over the course of their career s . The course is open to three – and four – member teams of journalism students and novice journalists in the Czech Republic. Each of the seven accepted teams will be assigned on e mentor ( a professional journalist), whom the team will regularly consult about the methodology they use for dealing with the selected topic. Applications may be submitted until February 1, 2016 using the form available on the Bakala Foundation website. The course begins with a three – day series of workshops, which will be held F ebruary 1 7 – 19, 2016 at the American Center in Prague. The mentors and lecturers include Jana Ustohalová (MF DNES), Pavla Holcová ( Czech Center for Investigative Journalism), Jindřich Šídlo (Hospodářské noviny), Tomáš Němeček ( journalist ), Markéta Dobiášová ( Czech Television ), David Macháček ( Czech Television ), Ondřej Kundra (Respekt), Jaroslav Spurný (Respekt) , and Internet research specialist Paul M yers (Research Clinic, BBC Academy).