Yeah, it's a global cadetship program, so applicants can be from any nationality.
And according to me, I think ab-initio is a term deriven from latin which only means the begining of something, the early stages, and an ab-initio prgram can be selfsponsored or ... but cadet I think mostly refers to a bonded term means if you begin the the future is bonded as the word is mostly used in military so you might understand that you are more limitations if you join then you have to make it.
Your last query made me think of it either. But I think then will provide some kind of line training or let you fly as second officer until you gain the required hours or let's see what others think of it.