Rules for Candidates Wishing to Receive a Zvi Meitar Scholarship

General

The Zvi Meitar Center for Advanced Legal Studies (henceforth: the Center) administers scholarships to students of exceptional research potential undertaking advanced legal studies. The grants are aimed at enabling applicants who wish to study at the Center to focus on full-time research, by providing them assistance with general living costs.

The Recipient of the Zvi Meitar Research Schoarship (henceforth: Grantee) is expected to devote his/her full time and energy to his/her studies and to the best of his/her ability, apply himself/herself to his/her program of study, to the satisfaction of the Center. The Grantee must compete his/her academic obligations within the normal time frame and may not accept employment by a law firm, or hold concurrently any internship, fellowship, allowance or other award during the period of the scholarship. Nonetheless, a Grantee that has received the approval of the Chair of the Faculty of Law's Advanced Degrees Committee, may undertake paid employment within another educational institute, so long as it is part-time and in accordance with his/her master's thesis/doctoral dissertation topic.

The Grantee is under no obligation to work for the university during and after completion of his/her studies.

If a Grantee withdraws his/her studies or is terminated for any reason whatsoever by the Center, he/she shall only be entitled to a prorated amount of money up to the date of cessation or termination of the grant. If a stipend for future studies has already been paid, then he/she must refund the excess amount, in accordance with university regulations. However, the Faculty of Law reserves the right to exempt Grantees from returning all or part of the stipend for future studies. These rare cases include, primarily, students who have transferred from a thesis track to non-thesis.

Value and Duration of the Zvi Meitar Scholarship

The center will, to the best of its ability, strive to ensure that scholarships correspond to the Grantee's academic year of attendance. The scholarships are tenable for one year in the first instance and thereafter may, subject to the Grantee's satisfactory progress, be renewed each semester at the Center's discretion. The maximum period of the scholarship is 1-2 years for LL.M. candidates; 3 for Ph.D. candidates and 4 for direct Ph.D. track candidates. The scholarship will be terminated upon submission of the research thesis/dissertation paper.

(a) The Grantee must meet all curricular and academic requirements and submit an annual progress report in order to renew his/her multi-year award, as described in Clause 13 below.

(b) Specific requirements:

LL.M. candidates:

Are expected to undergo one year course work of no less than 20 semestrial hours.
Must submit a research proposal for approval by the end of their first year of study.
Must attend a year-long thesis seminar during their second year of study.
Are required to remain in the full-time research track for the full year of their scholarship and meet all thesis requirements.

Ph.D. candidates:

Are expected to meet all first-year attendance requirements as listeners.
Must submit and gain committee approval for a dissertation no later than the beginning of their third year and no later than the end of their third year, if in a direct Ph.D. track.
Must regularly attend the doctoral colloquium and other related events.

All candidates are expected to satisfy the above-mentioned conditions in all annual progress reports.

Scholarships may cover 50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, 175% or up to 200% of the tuition fee. The percentage awarded is at the Advanced Degrees Committee's discretion and depends on budget available, and the terms and conditions stated in Clauses 9 and 10 below.

Scholarships are based on outstanding academic achievements. However, in rare cases, financial need may also be taken into consideration.

Scholarships Levels

In accordance with university regulations, the Center offers various levels of scholarships for living expenses:

Level 1: offered to full-time admitted graduate students.
Level 2: offered to graduate students who have completed at least one full year and have their thesis proposal approved and signed by the Graduate Committee, or outstanding undergraduate students that have been accepted to the direct Ph.D. track. Also, Ph.D. candidates who have not yet been admitted as full-time research students will receive Level 2 granting until receiving status of full-time Ph.D. students.
Level 3: offered to full-time Ph.D. students who have not yet had their dissertation proposal approved and signed by the Faculty's Doctoral Committee.
Level 4: offered to Ph.D. students who have received the approval of the Doctoral Committee and the University's Graduate and Advanced Studies Committee.

The various scholarship levels are determined at the beginning of each year, in accordance with the university's annual operating budgets.

Tuition Grant

Below is a list of instructions for receiving a tuition grant from the Center. These are issued in accordance with university regulations.

General Terms and Conditions

Tuition grants are inconsiderate of any related tuition fees. Students who wish to apply for a tuition grant must meet all the entry requirements and related eligibility fees.
The tuition grant will be awarded, if eligibility criteria are met, entirely based on existing funds.
Tuition reimbursement will not exceed the student's appropriate tuition balance.
Tuition reimbursement is relevant only to the student's degree program and faculty. If the student is undertaking combined studies with another faculty, he/she must fund those studies on his/her own.

Exemptions granted for Ph.D. students

A Ph.D. student entitled to a scholarship will be exempt from tuition fees so long as he/she meets the following requirements:
- If entitled to a half-year or full-year scholarship, he/she is fully exempt from tuition fees.
- If entitled to less than a half-year scholarship, he/she is exempt from tuition fees on a per-semester basis.

Exemptions granted for LL.M. students

An LL.M. student entitled to a scholarship for two consecutive years will be eligible for a tuition grant of up to 210% so long as he/she meets the terms and conditions described in Clause 11.1 above.
If entitled to a half-year or 1 full-year scholarship, he/she is fully exempt from tuition fees, regardless of the scope of his/her studies.
- In case he/she has studied less than half of the scope in the first year and does not receive a scholarship in the following year, the exempted amount of tuition for the previous year will be added to the second year.
- In case he/she has studied more than half of the scope in the first year and does not receive a grant in the following year, he/she will need to return the exempted amount for the previous in the tuition for the second year.

Application Procedure and Approval

Candidates who wish to apply for scholarships must submit their applications on the online form provided to the relevant supervisory Committee (Graduate or Doctoral), through the Committees Secretaries. Applications should be submitted at the earliest date possible, and no later than the date indicated on the online form.

Graduate students who have already been awarded a scholarship for a previous year and wish to apply for another year-long scholarship are required to complete and submit an annual progress report online. The report must be approved by the student's supervisor and comply with the requirements stated in Cause 6. It should reflect on the progress in the candidate’s research degree program during the current year and on intended research directions in the year ahead so as to ensure a quality and timely completion of the research program.

All Grantees must agree in writing to abide by the terms of the scholarship, and in particular, to devote their full time and energy to their studies and research, to the satisfaction of the Center.