9. Recommendations

It is your responsibility to ensure that recommendations are submitted by the deadline by your recommender. Applications without the complete three recommendations submitted will be disqualified. Once you provide the required information in the Recommendations section of the application, the system will generate an automatic email to your recommender with instructions. Your recommenders will have to submit the recommendations online by the deadline.

The recommendations should address all the areas outlined below-

• – How long and in what capacity the applicant is known to the recommender
• – Discuss the applicant’s qualifications and the merits of the proposal by commenting on the following:
• – Applicant’s credentials, potential and record of academic or professional accomplishments
• – Significance of proposal to the field
• – Importance of project to home country
• – Relevance of applicant’s previous research and training to proposed project
• – Address the applicant’s cross-cultural adaptability and flexibility

• A copy of your project statement should be given to each referee
• Recommendations should be from people qualified to evaluate your professional work, the abilities you bring to the proposed project, your ability to adapt to another country and culture, and the merits of the project itself
• Recommendations can come from your home institution, but at least one of the should be from a colleague in your field outside your home institution
• Choose your recommenders carefully. You want detailed, enthusiastic, clearly written letters, not short vague ones. A pro forma letter from a well-known scholar, a contact abroad or a prominent government official will carry less weight than a detailed and informed assessment of your abilities from someone who knows you and your work well.