How to assess and nominate applications for Commonwealth Scholarships or Fellowships Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 How to assess and nominate applications for Commonwealth Scholarships or Fellowships Frequently Asked Questions Questions about the general application process Q: What is a Nominating Agency? Questions about the Electronic Application System Q: What do I do if I have forgotten my password? Q: Why haven t I received an with a link to retrieve my password? Q: Why can t I access the EAS using my address and password? Q: Why can t I log out? Q: Why don t I automatically receive an indicating that an application has arrived? Q: How do I know if the national agency has received a candidate that I have nominated? Q: How do I know if the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) has received a candidate that I have nominated? Q: I am an Agency Contact why can t I nominate candidates in the In Tray? Q: Why can t I see the name of the course for which a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidate is applying in the In Tray? Q: In the In Tray, what does 'References: 1 & 3 of 3' under Received So Far mean? Q: Can a candidate see the references that the In Tray indicates have been completed online? Q: Can a candidate see the supporting statements from Potential Supervisors that the In Tray tells me have been completed online? Q: Is it possible to have signed hard copies of each of a candidate's references on headed paper? Q: What do I use the Initial Assessment section on the Agency Assessment page for? Q: What does the 'Aborted' status mean? Q: Why should I send an application to an Adviser? Q: Can I view an application at the same time as an Adviser? Q: Can I send an application to a course organiser? Q: Why can t I see the comments I wrote on an application when I go back to look at it? Q: Can I use the Comments box to indicate if a Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship candidate is selected or a reserve? Q: Can I use the Comments box to indicate if a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidate is selected or a reserve? Q: If I decide to make substantial revisions to my organisation s Commonwealth Professional Fellowship application, what happens to the partially completed applications of candidates? Q: I am a Nominator. Why can t I edit my organisation's Commonwealth Professional Fellowship application before it is submitted? 28/08/14 1

2 Questions about the information required on the application form Q: Can I amend a candidate s submitted application? Q: If a candidate realises that he/she has made a mistake in the application after submitting it, can he/she correct it? Q: Can a candidate change the address of a Referee after the application has been submitted? Q: Can I help a candidate complete his/her application for my organisation's Commonwealth Professional Fellowship programme? Q: Why aren t Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidates asked to include Referees? 28/08/14 2

3 Q: What is a Nominating Agency? A: A Nominating Agency is an organisation that directly or indirectly nominates candidates or bids for funding for Commonwealth Scholarships or Fellowships. A Nominating Agency can be: For Commonwealth Scholarships for taught Master s and PhD study a government ministry, e.g. Ministry of Education a national body, e.g. University Grants Commission a university in a developing Commonwealth country a UK organisation invited by the CSC to nominate candidates For Commonwealth Scholarships for academic staff and Commonwealth Medical Fellowships a national body, e.g. University Grants Commission a university in a developing Commonwealth country. For Commonwealth Academic Fellowships a university in a developing Commonwealth country. For Commonwealth Shared Scholarships a UK university For Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarships a School/Faculty/Department of a UK university For Commonwealth Professional Fellowships a UK organisation or a department of a UK university When inviting Nominating Agencies to recommend candidates, the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) allocates each Agency a quota and requests that the number of application forms nominated does not exceed this quota. Some Nominating Agencies may recommend candidates via a national agency, and not directly to the CSC (e.g. a South African university recommends candidates to Higher Education South Africa, which then decides who to nominate to the CSC). The national agency may allocate a quota to each of these Nominating Agencies. Q: What do I do if I have forgotten my password? A: Click on Forgotten Password on the Log On page, enter your address, and click OK. You will receive an automatically-generated with a link to a page with your new password. If you copy and paste this password to use when you log on, make sure you copy it from left to right (not right to left). Once you have logged on, you can change your password to something easier to remember on the My Details page. Q: Why haven t I received an with a link to retrieve my password? A: Check your spam/junk folder. If the is not there, there is a problem with the address you provided on the My Details page in the EAS. Q: Why can t I access the EAS using my address and password? A: If you have entered your address and password correctly, this is probably because you have 'played' on the EAS as an applicant using the same address. The EAS does not allow someone to use the same address to be both an applicant and a nominator. Q: Why can t I log out? A: This may happen if you leave the application open without entering any information for some time. When you go back to log out or to enter more information, you will probably see an error message. If you do, click on the button in the error message this will re-open the application and you can then log out normally. 28/08/14 3

4 Q: Why don t I automatically receive an indicating that an application has arrived? A: This is because some Nominating Agencies would receive an unacceptable number of s. Nominating Agencies can choose to receive notification s, for either just the first application which arrives or for every application. It is the responsibility of Nominating Agency staff to check the In Tray regularly. Q: How do I know if the national agency has received a candidate that I have nominated? A: Click on the Track All Forms tab in the In Tray. You will see every application that you have assessed, as well as any that you have asked an Adviser to comment on. The Status and Now with fields indicate the progress of the application. Q: How do I know if the Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner (CSC) has received a candidate that I have nominated? A: Click on the Track All Forms tab in the In Tray. You will see every application that you have assessed, as well as any that you have asked an Adviser to comment on. The Status and Now with fields indicate the progress of the application. Q: I am an Agency Contact why can t I nominate candidates in the In Tray? A: You have to be a Nominator to be able to nominate candidates. You can make yourself a Nominator. Q: Why can t I see the name of the course for which a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidate is applying in the In Tray? A: This facility is not available. If you would like a list of candidates who have applied to your university on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis, please eas@cscuk.org.uk. Q: In the In Tray, what does 'References: 1 & 3 of 3' under Received So Far mean? A; It means that Referee1 and Referee3, but not Referee2, have completed their references online. When all three Referees have completed their references online, you will see 'References: all 3' displayed. Q: Can a candidate see the references that the In Tray indicates have been completed online? A: No. Only Nominating Agencies and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) can see a candidate's references. Q: Can a candidate see the supporting statements from Potential Supervisors that the In Tray tells me have been completed online? A: Yes. Q: Can I have signed hard copies of each reference on headed paper? A: Yes please eas@cscuk.org.uk to request this. Within three days of a Referee completing a reference online, he/she will receive an with a PDF attachment. The Referee will then need to print the PDF on headed paper, sign it, and send it to you. Q: What do I use the Initial Assessment section on the Agency Assessment page for? A: Initial Assessment allows you to sort candidates into different categories without committing to a final decision. For instance, if you think you will reject a candidate, you can mark him/her For Probable Rejection. You can then reconsider this candidate before the deadline for nomination. If you don't change this category, the candidate will automatically receive an informing him/her that the application has been unsuccessful a few minutes after your deadline. However, if you mark the candidate as Reject in Final Assessment, the candidate s application cannot be recovered for reconsideration. Q: What does the 'Aborted' status mean? A: An application marked as 'Aborted' has either been rejected or deleted. The candidate will no longer be able to see the application in his/her In Tray. Q: Why should I send an application to an Adviser? A: This option is provided in case Nominating Agencies wish to follow a similar process to that of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) when selecting candidates. The CSC asks an external Adviser to comment on the application of each nominated candidate, and the Adviser s assessment and comments are taken into account when deciding if the candidate should be awarded a scholarship/fellowship. Q: Can I view an application at the same time as an Adviser? A: Yes, you can view the application on the Track All Forms tab in the In Tray. However, you cannot make any changes. If you wish to change something, you must transfer the application back to your Nominating Agency by clicking on Intervene in the application and then following the instructions. You are advised to warn the external Adviser that you are recalling the application, because he/she will not be automatically notified. 28/08/14 4

5 Q: Can I send an application to a course organiser? A: Yes. If you register the course organiser as an Adviser on the EAS, you can use the Send to Adviser function on the Agency Assessment page to send the application to the course organiser. The course organiser can then assess the candidate and send the application back to you. Q: Why can t I see the comments I wrote on an application when I go back to look at it? A: You and other Nominators in your Nominating Agency can only see your comments while the application is in your Nominating Agency's In Tray. When you have nominated a candidate to the national agency/commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC), they will be able to see your comments. Q: Can I use the Comments box to indicate if a Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship candidate is selected or a reserve? A: Yes. The EAS allows Nominating Agencies to select Reserves, who can be nominated to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) on request, even after the deadline for nominating to the CSC. Reserves are in addition to your quota. Q: Can I use the Comments box to indicate if a Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidate is selected or a reserve? A: Yes. The EAS allows Nominating Agencies to select Reserves, who can be nominated to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) on request, even after the deadline for nominating to the CSC. Reserves are in addition to your quota. Q: If I decide to make substantial revisions to my organisation s Commonwealth Professional Fellowship application, what happens to candidates partially completed applications? A: Once you have revoked your form, candidates will not be able to see their application in their In Tray while you are making your revisions. As soon as you re-release the form, candidates will be able to continue with their application. All the information they previously entered will still be there. Q: I am a Nominator. Why can t I edit my organisation's Commonwealth Professional Fellowship application before it is submitted? A: Only Agency Contacts can edit an organisation s application. Nominators can only assess candidates who have submitted applications to participate in the programme. Q: Can I amend a candidate s submitted application? A: Nominating Agencies cannot change any information entered by a candidate on his/her application. However, if a candidate does not have access to a scanner, the Nominating Agency can attach his/her photograph/university transcript(s)/birth certificate/language certificate via the Attachments page. Q: If a candidate realises that he/she has made a mistake or omitted important information in the application after submitting it, can he/she change it? A: No. Once a candidate has submitted the application, he/she can only change the addresses of the Referees (and the address of the Vice-Chancellor/Rector/Executive Head of his/her university, if relevant), and he/she cannot delete the application. If the candidate wants to make changes, he/she will have to start a new application and is advised to: warn the Nominating Agency that he/she has made a second application warn the Referees that they will each receive a second requesting another online reference warn the Potential Supervisors, if relevant, that they will each receive a second requesting another online supporting statement warn the Vice-Chancellor/Rector/Executive Head of his/her university, if relevant, that he/she has made a second application Q: Can a candidate change the address of a Referee after the application has been submitted? A: Yes. The candidate can change the address of a Referee and send another request for a reference via the References page. The candidate cannot change the name of any Referee after the application has been submitted. Q: Can I help a candidate complete his/her application for my organisation's Commonwealth Professional Fellowship programme? A: Any assistance you provide has to be given outside the EAS, for example, by or telephone. Candidates can save a PDF of their application at any stage, so you could ask a candidate to a PDF to you to check the information before the application is submitted. Once it has been submitted, the only changes you can make are to attach his/her photograph/certificates. 28/08/14 5

6 Q: Why aren t Commonwealth Shared Scholarship candidates asked to include Referees? A: For Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, UK universities are responsible for selecting candidates (and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) usually accepts their decisions). As the universities involved have different selection procedures, candidates are advised to check with the relevant university directly to find out what references are required. 28/08/14 6