The Fleet Scholarship Programme was a public higher education scholarship programme of the Northern Fleet aiming to promote the military education of officers.

Format

The programme was based on a formal agreement between the Northern Fleet and the Defense Ministry. It was headed by a board constituted of seven members: three appointed by the Fleet, two by the Hope Navy, and two by the ministry. The financing was provided to 50% by the Fleet and 50% by the state; the board then decided how to split up this pot into individual scholarships.

The programme was targeted specifically at higher education for officers (separate from boarding school), which provided up to 30% of Fleet officers; the program would end up financing around half of this number's studies. Two universities were selected for the programme from the beginning (four institutions would participate in the end): Fleetport and Port Astra.

The creation of the Common Military Scholarship Programme under the Armed Forces Commission led to the dissolution of the Fleet Scholarship Programme (which was simply not renewed for a third 11-year period). The Fleet established a few of its own separate scholarships, which were however only available in Fleetport.

Scholarship Types

The basic scholarship covered strictly tuition fees. Students could qualify for such a scholarship if they had sufficiently promising grades from their previous school run. This usually required signing up three months before the final school degree; if the student succeeded, they were obligated to pursue a three year basic officer's degree at a specified university (which could require an extra year at a boarding school, if the student had a civilian education), and then enlist in the Fleet for ten years. Three quarters of these regular scholarships were awarded to naval boarding school graduates; there were 10-30 of them per institution.

There were also a few special scholarships, tied to exceptional sport or intellectual performance. These focused specifically on mathematics, mechanical or software engineering, swimming, and track sports. A very limited number of these was available at the participating institutions.