OVER 85,000 incoming first-year college students hope to secure a scholarship from the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute for Academic Year 2023-2024.

In a statement, DOST-SEI said the students will take the qualifying undergraduate scholarship examination on March 18-19 in 241 test centers across the country.

“The scholarship benefits include tuition fee and other school fees subsidy, monthly stipends, learning material and/or connectivity allowance, uniform allowance, transportation allowance, thesis allowance and graduation allowance. It also includes non-monetary benefits under the Science and Technology Learning Assistance Program,” the department said.

“The scholarship is open to qualified graduating senior high school students and those who have graduated earlier but have not taken any post-secondary units,” it added.

The 10,000 successful applicants will be identified in June 2023.

They must enroll in priority science and technology academic programs in state colleges and universities or private institutions recognized by the Commission on Higher Education as centers of excellence or development, or with Level III accreditation from the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP).

Upon completion of their studies, scholars will join the S&T workforce of the country as scientists, engineers, technologists, science and mathematics teachers, researchers, and innovators. Currently, the department supports 38,646 undergraduate S&T scholars.

Some of the test-takers are competing for scholarship slots from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, which is a rider of the DOST-SEI Undergraduate Scholarship Examination for the selection of its scholars.