Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski handed over Friday scholarship agreements for 2012-2013 school year to 12 Macedonian nationals for studying at Shanghai List 100 best-ranked universities.

This practice will resume in the upcoming years as it will enable Macedonia to acquire a serious potential of highly-educated people, Gruevski said at the ceremony.

The scholarship beneficiaries will have an opportunity to make numerous contacts at these universities, which bring together talented students who are going to be future CEO of multinational companies, Gruevski said. Such contacts may be beneficial for Macedonia, he added.

Each year the Government will support young, ambitious people, who manage to enroll in the best universities across the globe but cannot afford to pay for their studies, to complete their education, the PM said.

Minister of Education and Science Pance Kralev said the highest scholarship is at GBP 14,000 for the University of London and the lowest - EUR 500 for one of the higher-education institutions in France.