Scholarships

The main goal of Roma Education Fund Scholarship Program (REF SP) is to create a critical mass of Roma higher education graduates who are academically and socially equipped with the skills and competences that enable them to become professionals in their fields, and who remain connected to the Roma community in order to contribute to its advancement and inclusion in mainstream society. REF SP’s financial support facilitates Roma students’ access to higher education, strengthens their academic efforts during their studies and helps them to successfully graduate.

As the largest tertiary education scholarship program for Roma university students of its kind, REF SP offers four merit-based scholarship schemes in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe and Turkey. Scholarships are provided for one academic year and students can renew their scholarships provided they have successfully completed the previous academic year.

Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP)

RMUSP is the largest of all four schemes, is designed to facilitate Roma youth’s access to tertiary education and to enable larger numbers of Roma to enter the labor market as mainstream professionals. The beneficiaries study in their own countries in Bachelor, Master or Doctorate programs.

Law and Humanities Program (LHP)

LHP has been co-financed by REF and by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future since 2007. REF SP implements the program in collaboration with national partners in Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.

Roma Health Scholarship Program (RHSP)

RHSP is implemented in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia to support students in medical studies in their own countries at vocational or tertiary level.

Roma International Scholar Program (RISP)

Roma International Scholar Program is designed to provide partial support to Roma students who are citizens of one of the following Program countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, and Ukraine, for pursuing Master, Doctorate, or Postdoctoral education outside their home country or country of residence.

The aim of the scholarship is to promote academic mobility of Roma students and support their academic integration internationally. The grant amount under RISP can reach a maximum of 9,050 EUR /per academic year.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.