DDEC opens call for Teodoro Moscoso Scholarship
Application documents can be downloaded from the Puerto Rico Economic Development and Commerce Department’s website
Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC, in Spanish) has announced the opening of the application process for the Teodoro Moscoso Scholarship.
Application documents can be downloaded from the DDEC website and must be submitted by Oct. 11.
To be eligible, applicants must be between 18 and 29 years old, have a minimum GPA of 2.5 for vocational and technical degrees or 3.0 for students with financial need, and provide two letters of recommendation. The second phase of the evaluation includes interviews with an evaluation committee composed of academic staff and DDEC representatives.
“Puerto Rico is on its way to having the most qualified workforce in the region. Today, for the third consecutive year, we announced the Teodoro Moscoso Scholarship, which recognizes the vision, leadership and commitment of the first director of [Puerto Rico’s] Industrial Development Company and his great contribution to ‘Manos a la Obra,’ which served as inspiration in the transformation of Puerto Rico from an agricultural model to an industrial one that today positions us as a global industrial power,” said DDEC Secretary Manuel Cidre.
“The scholarship awards a group of young people with the purpose of encouraging the qualities that made Teodoro Moscoso great and that we want to promote in Puerto Rican youth,” Cidre added.
With a budget of $750,000, the scholarship is divided into two categories: vocational and technical students, who can receive up to $10,000 over two years, and students with financial need pursuing careers that are difficult to recruit for, such as construction, manufacturing, health and technology, who can receive up to $40,000 over four years.
Since its reactivation in 2021 after a two-decade hiatus, the Teodoro Moscoso Scholarship has benefited 90 university students across Puerto Rico. This year, scholarships will focus on students in fields with recruitment challenges, including research, healthcare, data science, financial services, design, construction, and agriculture.
Notable universities among scholarship recipients include the University of Puerto Rico, Central University of Bayamón, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Ana G. Méndez University, and Inter American University.
“We reactivated this scholarship program in 2021 after more than two decades,” said Charlene Neuman-Rivera, director of the Youth Development Program. “So far, we have invested approximately $3.6 million since its relaunch.”
