The winners of the 12th edition of the “Merit Scholarship” contest were celebrated on Tuesday evening. Those 52 students were invited on the stage of the National Theatre “Mihai Eminescu” to receive diplomas and prizes from sponsors. The ceremony was attended by government officials and representatives of the academic institutions, who have congratulated the winners. The current edition of the Contest had 485 participants. After evaluating the submitted files and the essays on the topic: “How do you see academic mobility?”, 52 students from 7 higher-education institutions were designated winners. The students were offered books, vouchers for cellular phones and money prizes, as follows: five received the first degree Scholarships worth MDL 8 thousand, 12 – II degree Scholarships of MDL 5 thousand, and 35 students – III degree Scholarships of MDL 3000. The best 5 students also were offered a laptop and MDL 10,000 each on the part of the Government. Prime-minister Vasile Tarlev announced, on behalf of the central public administration, the availability to encourage the participation of young people in this noble competition. The rectors of higher-education institutions have remarked that the nowadays students are much more prepared and the quality of the studies young people get in universities are in absolute compliance with the demands of the market here in Moldova, as well as abroad. Ion Bostan, Rector of the Technical University, proposed that a photo-album picturing the winners of this contest be published, beginning with its first edition, so that freshmen understand what “elite students” really mean. The initiative was also supported by the sponsors. The Merit Scholarships Programme was launched in 1996 at the initiative of Soros Foundation Moldova in order to encourage the academic, scientific and extracurricular achievements of the Moldovan students. Starting 2003 it has been organised by Educational Advising Centre (EAC) under the aegis of the Council of Rectors. The financial partners of the project are: Soros-Moldova Foundation, Moldova Agroindbank and Orange Moldova. The media partners are Pro-TV Chisinau, the newspapers “Komsomolskaia Pravda v Moldove”, “Saptamana”, “Jurnal de Chisinau”, and Info-Prim Neo News Agency.