Queen Mary University of London has extended its existing agreement with COLFUTURO, one of the largest scholarships providers in Colombia, which will allow Colombian postgraduate students to study any subject at Queen Mary.
Queen Mary has held an agreement with COLFUTURO since 2015, but this funding was only available to students in the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences and Science and Engineering. The addendum now includes Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, and offers a 20 per cent discount at postgraduate taught level.
Applications for the COLFUTURO scholarships are open until 28 February 2019.
The signing ceremony took place at Queen Mary’s Mile End campus on 10 April between Professor Colin Grant, Vice-Principal (International) at Queen Mary, Jerónimo Castro Jaramillo, Executive Director of COLFUTURO, and Cecilia Salgado de Huertas, Financial and Administrative Director of the Foundation for the future of Colombia-COLFUTURO.
Commenting on the agreement, Professor Grant said: “We are thrilled to be signing this addendum with COLFUTURO, and look forward to diversifying our offering to Colombian postgraduate students. Through working with COLFUTURO, we will be able to develop next generation leaders who will translate academic research into real world solutions. Strong partnerships such as this will be a vital part of our Americas Strategy.”
The ceremony highlighted Queen Mary’s multilateral approach to research impact and its research links in Latin America. Dr Sam Halvorsen, who joined Queen Mary’s School of Geography in January 2018, discussed his research in Buenos Aires and his establishment of a Latin American Geographies in the UK network, which he hopes will include Colombian PhD students. Catherine Fung, from Queen Mary’s Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, introduced the NIHR Global Health Research Group, which is focused on developing psycho-social interventions for mental health. Funded by the National Institute of Health Research, the research will involve field work in the Colombian cities of Cali, Bogotá and Medellín.
Queen Mary met with COLFUTURO at its offices in Bogotá in April, as part of a broader visit to Latin America.
COLFUTURO funded 1280 scholars in 2017, 280 of whom came to the UK. Other UK partners include King’s College London, the London School of Economics (LSE) and University College London (UCL).
There are currently 28 Colombian students enrolled at Queen Mary, the majority of whom are undertaking Postgraduate Taught courses. The majority of Queen Mary’s students on a COLFUTURO scholarship are studying the Master of Laws (LLM) in the university’s Centre for Commercial Law Studies.
Applications for the COLFUTURO scholarships are open until 28 February 2019. COLFUTURO offer a 2 year loan-scholarship of up to US$50,000 towards postgraduate tuition fees and living expenses. COLFUTURO scholars can use this for either Masters or PhD study at Queen Mary.
For more information on the Latin American Geographies in the UK network, please email Dr Sam Halvorsen: s.halvorsen@qmul.ac.uk
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