The Government of the Dominican Republic, through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Mescyt), began the delivery of thousands of national scholarships to the participants of the 2024 Call for Applications.
During the ceremony, headed by the Vice President of the Republic, Raquel Peña, and the Minister of Mescyt, Dr. Franklin García Fermín, the beneficiaries from all the provinces of the country, received their letters accrediting them to study various training programs, with special emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), which are increasingly in demand by the national and international labor market.
The Vice President affirmed that every time a national or international scholarship is awarded, it is a concrete action to raise the quality of Dominican professionals with high-level specialized training, as well as a recognition of the great efforts they have made to achieve educational excellence.
Likewise, Vice President Raquel Peña assured that President Luis Abinader has been a strong advocate of democratizing and making access to scholarships more transparent, promoting policies that ensure that talent and determination are not limited by economic or geographic circumstances.
“We firmly believe that every young person, regardless of their origin, should have the possibility to achieve their educational dreams. For this reason, we have implemented a fair and accessible selection system that guarantees that each scholarship is awarded in a transparent and meritocratic manner,” emphasized the vice president.
Meanwhile, the head of Mescyt, Franklin García Fermín, emphasized that “it is a source of deep satisfaction that in the period between August 2020 and July 2024, the Ministry has distributed more than 32,095 national scholarships to an equal number of students not only from Santo Domingo and Santiago, as was previously the practice, but from all the provinces that make up the territory of the Republic”.
Likewise, he added that during the four-year period, more than 100% of the planned scholarships have been executed, with an investment of RD 3,991,990,008.00, an achievement that has had an impact on the increase of the enrollment rate and guarantees professionals the opportunity to continue their preparation through undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
“With more than 32,000 national scholarships, more than 8,000 international scholarships and 110,000 English immersion, French and Portuguese scholarships, granted in these four years, the Government of Luis Abinader has acted with justice and a spirit of equity by bringing the lights of progress and the hope of living better to places that had been forgotten for centuries,” concluded García Fermín.
Pillars of the scholarship program
The National Scholarship program, one of the pillars of the country’s development, aims to coordinate, manage and promote the qualification of professionals and students, through economic support that flows to ensure equal opportunities and educational inclusion, overcoming any circumstance that blocks citizens’ access to comprehensive training at the higher level.
Regulations for the National Scholarship System
To develop the national scholarship program, Mescyt has acted in strict compliance with the regulations established in Law 139-01, on Higher Education, Science and Technology, in Decree No. 549-21, which creates the National Scholarship System and in adherence to the National Development Strategy 2012-2030, the National Multi-Year Plan for the Higher Education, Science and Technology Subsector, the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030, the National Pact for Educational Reform, Presidential Initiatives and Institutional Policies.
The national scholarship award ceremony was attended by the Minister of Youth, Rafael Féliz; the chancellor of the University of the Caribbean (Unicaribe), José Alejandro Aybar; the vice rector of exemption of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), Rosalía Sosa; the vice minister of Planning and Public Investment of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (Mepyd), Luis Madera, and the head of National Scholarships of Mescyt, Lanny Portorreal.
Source:Presidencia.gob.do
