General guidelines – project grants from L. Meltzers høyskolefond

About the award criteria
Only particularly gifted students and research fellows are eligible for grants from the Meltzer Foundation. Normally, only students with grades among the top 10% are deemed to be of Meltzer quality. Meltzer quality is primarily decided on the basis of the calculated grade average, by faculty, of all the applicant’s exams from a university and/or specialised university college. The results from Examen Philosophicum are not included in the average.
Note that achieving Meltzer quality does not automatically qualify for a grant. There are usually fewer grant portions available than there are applicants of Meltzer quality.

The project description will count in the evaluation when ranking applications.

For students and research fellows at the University of Bergen who have taken exams at external institutions, an average of the exams taken at the University of Bergen is calculated. Grades for exams taken at other educational institutions must be of the same standard. Applicants from other universities and specialised university colleges in Norway will be assessed on the basis of their examination grades compared with the grade level for corresponding courses taught at the University of Bergen.

The grade limits are revised annually. It is a requirement that the grades have been achieved through normal study progress. Weaker grades that nonetheless fall within the 15% limit may to some extent be compensated for through:

• Documented participation in unpaid research work at a university department
• Academic achievements under particularly difficult conditions.

Qualified candidates with a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent will normally be preferred over candidates who have not come as far in their studies, even if the latter group may have achieved better individual results. Active participation in governing bodies at a university/ specialised university college may be taken into account under otherwise equal conditions.

NOTE in particular that research fellows who have been admitted to a doctoral programme at the University of Bergen must be registered as having been admitted to this programme in the National Student Database (FS) in order for their applications to be considered.

The available grant funds are distributed between the faculties/ disciplines roughly proportionately to the number of qualified applicants from each faculty/ discipline.

The application must be confirmed and recommended by the student’s academic supervisor. The supervisor also signs a receipt that is generated when the application has been submitted, stating that he/she is willing to ensure that any grant from the foundation will be used in accordance with the application. Applications lacking a signature from the supervisor on the receipt will not be considered. (See below for further information about deadlines for submitting receipts etc.)

Forwarding
Once the application has been submitted electronically, you will receive a receipt. Print this receipt and obtain your supervisor’s signature before submitting it.
The receipt must be sent to the following address by 8 December 2011:

Informasjonssenteret ved Studieadministrativ avdeling
Seksjon for studieadministrasjon
Langesgate 1-3
Universitetet i Bergen
Postboks 7800
5020 Bergen

The following documentation must be submitted together with the receipt by 8 December 2011:

• a transcript of grades from all educational institutions, including the University of Bergen
• a letter of admission for students on doctoral fellowships
• other enclosures (If illness or other circumstances listed under ’Additional information’ affect the work situation, this must be documented by enclosures.)

NOTE that exams taken at the University of Bergen must be documented.

The deadline for forwarding results from exams taken in the current semester is 18 January 2012.

Electronic applications
Applications must be submitted electronically (link to form). Applications submitted on old paper forms or in any other way than via an electronic application will not be considered. Help with the form.
Remember to submit the application to the foundation’s application system once it is completed, no later than 1 December 2011 at 13.00.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT SAVING AND DELETING APPLICATIONS:
Remember to press either ‘Save and quit’ or ’Save’ at the top or bottom of the application form during and after each work session. The foundation is not responsible for any data lost due to failure to save it. Applications that are not to be submitted should be deleted. This is done via your personal page in the application system. The application cannot be changed after the deadline has expired or after it has been submitted electronically.

Contact persons
Questions regarding applications for project grants from the Meltzer Foundation for students and research fellows should be addressed to the Division of Academic Affairs, Section for Academic Administration at the University of Bergen, tel. 55 58 90 27 or email: prosjektstipend@meltzerfondet.no