Tiberius Okang’a, a former Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) student has shared how he successfully secured a scholarship to further his education abroad.
In an interview with TUKO, Okang’a revealed he graduated in 2019 with first-class honours in Industrial Chemistry.
In a bid to earn an income, he engaged in photography in 2020, a business that was short-lived due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought a shift to online activities.
It was during this period when he started exploring opportunities to further his studies thanks to a friend who directed him to the Ministry of Education website.
“If you visit the Ministry of Education’s website, click on the services. From there, proceed to check on scholarships. The ministry publishes all the opportunities announced by countries that have offered to provide scholarships to Kenyans,” he explained.
He logged in to the website and made his first application, which was unsuccessful. However, the numerous rejections did not dampen his spirit, and he continued trying his luck until he succeeded.
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“I was rejected on the first attempt. The Commonwealth, Scholarship, east African scholarship, Pan-African scholarship, and the Slovakian scholarship rejected me.
The more rejections I got, the more passionate I became about this whole thing. It is a painful process,” he disclosed.
His persistence paid off when he was selected to study in Hungary, Europe, for his master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Pécs.
He later landed an opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland in the United States of America.
According to him, when applying for scholarships, applicants are required to submit their academic papers, including a university degree (preferably second class honors-upper division), transcripts, secondary and primary Form Four, and Leaving certificates.
Other documents required are a birth certificate, National ID, and passport. For government scholarships, applicants need to submit their documents through the scholarship website.
Once verified, the applicant is required to further submit them to the sending partner (Kenya), and subsequently, be prepared for interviews, typically conducted at Teleposta Kenya.
Okang’a noted that the entire application process takes at least nine months, highlighting the need for patience.