For partners
What Are Academic Scholarships Abroad?
Academic scholarships for studying abroad are financial grants offered by governments, universities, private organizations, and foundations to outstanding students.
The academic scholarships can be divided in the several categories:
-
Fully-Funded Scholarships
These awards usually cover tuition fees, accommodation, air tickets, health insurance.
-
Partially-Funded Scholarships:
With this award, a foreign student can cover a significant part of the costs related to the educational process.
-
Country-Specific & University-Specific Scholarships
Many governments (for example, in Australia, Germany, Switzerland) and universities offer their own schemes aimed at attracting talented students.
How to apply for an academic scholarship?
Competition for academic scholarships is fierce. The universities abroad have different requirements for obtaining academic scholarship. Meeting the basic requirements will allow you to be awarded an academic scholarship.
1. Academic Excellence
This is what most academic scholarships are based on.
-
High Grade Point Average (GPA): You must have an excellent academic performance in your previous studies. Most of the top scholarships require a GPA to be equivalent to a First Class or Upper Second-Class honors degree.
-
Standardized Test Scores: The tests may differ depending on the country of studying:
-
For the USA: SAT/ACT for undergraduates; GRE/GMAT for graduates.
-
English Proficiency: TOEFL or IELTS scores are required in the case of further studying in an English-speaking country
-
Academic Transcripts: These are official documents from the schools you have previously studied in.
2. Letters of Recommendation (LORs)
These letters give an outside view of your skills and character. Usually 2-3 letters from employers, teachers are required.
3. A Statement of Purpose (SOP)
In this section, you can share your story beyond the scope of your grades. In particular, your SOP will show the short-term and long-term academic and professional goals of you as the student, as well as why you are choosing a university and specific program.
4. Evidence of Extracurricular and Leadership Experience
- Evidence or experience of leadership on (academic, athletic, community service).
- Volunteerism and community service.
- Internships, research, or publication opportunities that are relevant to your program of study.
- Experiences in Olympiads, conferences, or related competitions.
5. A Strong Research Proposal (Primarily a requirement for PhD students)
For those scholarships that are research-based, almost all will have a research proposal component. The research proposal will provide you with the opportunity to develop your research question, the methodology of your research, and how your research might contribute to the field.
6. Meeting the Base Eligibility Criteria
- National/Residency: Some government scholarships will only extend to students within the specific country.
- Level of Study: The scholarship may be restricted to Master’s, PhD, or undergraduate studies.
- Field of Study: Students may be restricted to an area of study (STEM, public policy, arts).
Scholarships Provided by Prestigious Universities
To provide an example of the opportunities available internationally, we provide a few well-known scholarships from different countries and universities.
1. Government & Nationwide Scholarships
-
United States: The Fulbright Program
The financing comes from the United States government. The potential candidates are graduate students, scholars, academicians, and professionals wanting to study, research, or teach in the USA.
-
United Kingdom: Chevening Scholarships
This is funded by the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, provided to exceptional leaders for their one-year Master’s program at any British university. One of the requirements for applicants is to have two years' work experience.
-
Germany: DAAD Scholarships
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) provides a variety of scholarships to international students for their studies.
-
Europe: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMD)
A consortium of’ European universities offer integrated Master's degrees, where students spend at least two semesters in different countries.
2. University-Specific Scholarships
-
University of Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Fund
The fund offers fully funded awards to students from all backgrounds, to academically gifted students able to utilize the funding for tuition fees, college fees, and living expenses.
It offers fully-funded awards to academically outstanding students, allowing them to cover tuition and college fees. Also they can compensate for living expenses.
-
University of Cambridge, UK: Gates Cambridge Scholarship
Founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it is a full-cost scholarship for outstanding foreign applicants, who are studying on a full-time basis at the University of Cambridge.
-
Yale University, USA: Yale International Scholarships
The award is based entirely on the family's financial situation.
-
University of Melbourne, Australia: Melbourne International Undergraduate Scholarship
The target audience is foreign students, who enroll in undergraduate programs.
-
National University of Singapore (NUS): NUS Global Merit Scholarship
A prestigious scholarship is designed for foreign undergraduate students with excellent academic performance, and co-curricular achievements.
Path to Success - Famous Scientists who have obtained academic scholarships
The lives of four eminent persons reflect the revolutionary effect of higher academic education, usually backed by outstanding scholarships. Their later involvement in the respective fields indicates how much support like this is needed for the world to have innovation and leadership.
Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the world's foremost expert in aerospace engineering and physics, was nicknamed the "Missile Man of India" and also held the position of the country's 11th President. He got his initial technical grounding greatly enhanced by an overseas specialized studies program. The Government of India sponsored him to the University of Washington, Seattle, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in 1963. This scholarship from the state was crucial as it allowed him to gain important insights that were later used in India's pioneering of space and missile as well as in the SLV, Agni, and Prithvi projects.
Dr. Amartya Sen, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (1998), opened up new paths in welfare economics and social choice theory. His academic career was significantly boosted by being awarded a prestigious Prize Fellowship at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, where he did his doctoral studies. The fellowship, which was very competitive, allocated him the needed resources and academic freedom in order to work out his groundbreaking ideas on poverty, famine, and human development indicators.
Dr. Muhammad Yunus, whose work on microcredit and microfinance through the Grameen Bank earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, was supported by a Fulbright Scholarship in his doctoral studies. This top-notch middleman international exchange program, backed by the US government, has been a big help in his studying of Economics at Vanderbilt University and thus has formed a very important academic base for his next socio-economic innovations.
Dr. Eric Lander who was one of the main leaders of the Human Genome Project and the first director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, began his outstanding interdisciplinary journey as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. The scholarship of the highest rank financed his education in mathematics, an academic background he later combined with genetics to become a pioneer in genomics and a government science advisor in the U.S. with major influence.
The lives of these characters show that precisely targeted academic sponsorship—be it a government program, a prize fellowship, or an international scholarship—has always been the pivotal and encouraging factor. It opens the access to particular knowledge that could be used for the pioneering scientific, economic, and social advancement worldwide.
