As part of this area of work, the Youth Education Scheme "YES" was established with the support of ITU Member States and ITU Development Sector Members such as Vodafone (U.K), ANACOM (Portugal), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology through the National Telecommunication Institute — NTI (Egypt), ALCATEL-Lucent,Thales Communications (France) and NOKIA Corporation (Finland).

Thanks to its sponsors, YES scholarships have been awarded every academic year since 2003. To-date, YES initiative has awarded fifty (50) scholarships to young future leaders in telecommunication/ICTs and related fields, mainly from Least Developed Countries and developing countries, from all the regions of the world.

2. Objective
The Youth Education Scheme "YES" scholarship initiative aims to support needy and deserving young people from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and developing countries gain access to training and a career in telecommunications/ICTs or related fields.

3. Eligibility Requirements
YES applicants participate in a competition with strict selection procedures and criteria, which respect geographic and gender balance. YES ensures transparency in the selection process. ITU handles the application process and presents a short list of candidates to the sponsor/s. The YES scholarship is awarded only following validation of the proposed candidates by the sponsors.

The endeavour of the selection process is to identify talented young people who have a strong will to continue their education in telecommunication/ICTs or related fields, aimed at contributing through their achieved knowledge to the development of their communities, countries and regions.

In this regard, each candidate must:

• Come from LDCs or developing countries (non-OECD country);
• Be between 20 and 30 years of age;
• Provide a very good school curriculum;
• Provide two written recommendations (preferably from professors of their University);
• Provide an essay indicating his/her motivation towards completing their studies in telecommunication or related fields.
• Priority is given to applicants who wish to continue their studies in universities in their own or neighbouring countries.

4. Definition of YES Scholarships
Youth Education Scheme award scholarships cover the costs of tuition fees only. Tuition fees are paid by ITU directly to the universities upon presentation of the relevant invoice. YES scholarships do not exceed ten thousand U.S. Dollars (USD 10,000) per applicant.

More details 

5. Access to YES Scholarships
The YES scholarship contest is launched every year in March and scholarships awarded in June/July.

The allocation of YES scholarships depends on voluntary donations by ITU Member States and Sector Members.

6. Scholarships Data

By region

 
   
Number of awarded scholarships against applications received