Simón I. Patiño University Centre

Simón I. Patiño Foundation Simón I. Patiño Simón I. Patiño Educational and Cultural Center, Cochabamba Space Simón I. Patiño, La Paz Albina R. de Patiño Pediatric Center, Cochabamba Pairumani Center for Phytoecogenetic Research, Cochabamba Pairumani Model Farm, Cochabamba Pairumani Seed Center, Cochabamba Simón I. Patiño Center for Applied Ecology, Santa Cruz Center of Ecology - Diffusion, Simón I. Patiño, Santa Cruz Simón I. Patiño Center, Santa Cruz University Center, Geneva Simón I. Patiño Publishing House, Geneva Cultural Activities, Geneva Ecology, Geneva

Universitary Centre
Rue Giovanni-Gambini 8
P.O.Box 182
1211 Geneva 25 - Switzerland
Tel.: +41-22-3470211
Fax: +41-22-7891829

The Simón I. Patiño University Centre sets out to train young university-educated Bolivian executives at Geneva University and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Candidates undertake to return to their country on completing their studies so that Bolivia may benefit from the knowledge they have acquired abroad thanks to the Foundation's scholarship.

Candidates are chosen on the basis of extensive selection tests lasting several days. The University Centre covers all of the scholarship-holders' subsistence and tuition costs (housing, food, clothing, pocket money, insurance, travel, study materials, etc.) throughout the period of their studies (an average of six or seven years).

The scholarship-holders reside in a modern building with a 30-room capacity offering every amenity for living and studying.

The results achieved by the Centre in over 40 years of existence are eloquent: a success rate of over 80% in European university examinations, with 75% of the trained scholars returning to Bolivia where most of them occupy posts with a high level of responsibility and make a positive contribution to the country's development.

A) Scholarships for university masters, Salamanca (Spain)

These scholarships aim to enable female graduates from Bolivian universities to follow a year of complementary studies at the University of Salamanca in Spain, with which the Foundation has signed a general collaboration agreement.

Selected each year on the basis of their academic records and after interviews, the scholarship-holders commit themselves to return to work in their homeland once their study cycle in Salamanca has been completed. In this, they are subject to the same rule that is applied to their male counterparts in Geneva.

The scholarship covers travel and study costs as well as food and accommodation during their stay abroad.

B) Scholarships in tropical agronomy, San José (Costa Rica)

These scholarships are reserved for young men and women who have obtained university entrance qualifications and who wish to specialize in the specific techniques of tropical farming.

Training takes place at EARTH University, established in the tropical forest of Costa Rica, with which the Foundation also collaborates on a more general level, particularly in ecology, a fundamental field in areas of such fragile soil.

As for the other scholarships granted by the Foundation, the scholarship-holders commit themselves to returning to Bolivia to implement their newly acquired knowledge.