Programme profiles linked to the official provider, each stamped with the date we last checked it.
This directory covers large, long-running scholarship programmes with published eligibility criteria and a public application portal. Each entry has its own profile page describing who runs the scheme, who it is designed for, what the application actually requires, and where the official application source lives.
Read the next paragraph before you use any of it, because it explains what this directory deliberately does not tell you.
We do not publish amounts or deadlines
Award values, closing dates and eligibility thresholds change every cycle, and a third-party site that copies them goes stale without anyone noticing. Those numbers are on the provider’s own page and nowhere else on this site. Every profile links straight to it. Treat that official page as the only authority and check it yourself before you submit anything. What we add is the part that does not change every year: how the process is structured, what it asks of you, and where candidates lose marks.
Filter by study level and destination to narrow the list, then open the profiles that fit. Most students should apply to between three and six schemes in a cycle. Fewer than three and a single unlucky panel ends your year; more than six and the quality of each application drops below the level any of them will reward, because these programmes are assessed by people reading hundreds of files and generic material is visible immediately.
Note that scholarship schemes divide into two structural types and the difference matters enormously for your timeline. Independent schemes — Chevening, Fulbright, Commonwealth — run their own application separate from university admission, usually with an earlier deadline, and often require you to hold or be seeking a place. Institutional schemes — Gates Cambridge, Clarendon, Knight-Hennessy — are tied to admission at one university and are frequently assessed from your admission application, sometimes with an extra form and sometimes with none at all. Applying to an institutional scheme means applying to that university on its schedule, which is usually months before you would otherwise have needed to.
| Programme | Provider | Study level | Where you study | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevening Scholarships | UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations | Master's | United Kingdom | |
| Fulbright Foreign Student Program | US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (administered by the Institute of International Education) | Postgraduate (all levels) | United States | |
| Commonwealth Scholarships (UK) | Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK, funded by the FCDO | Master's and doctoral | United Kingdom | |
| Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters | European Commission, Erasmus+ programme (DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture) | Master's | Europe (multiple countries) | |
| Gates Cambridge Scholarship | Gates Cambridge Trust, University of Cambridge | Postgraduate (all levels) | United Kingdom | |
| Clarendon Fund Scholarships | University of Oxford (Clarendon Fund, supported by Oxford University Press) | Postgraduate (all levels) | United Kingdom | |
| Rhodes Scholarship | Rhodes Trust, Rhodes House, University of Oxford | Postgraduate (all levels) | United Kingdom | |
| DAAD Scholarships (Germany) | DAAD — Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service) | Master's and doctoral | Germany | |
| Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships | Government of Canada (administered jointly by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) | Doctoral | Canada | |
| Australia Awards Scholarships | Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) | Undergraduate and postgraduate | Australia | |
| Knight-Hennessy Scholars | Stanford University (Knight-Hennessy Scholars) | Postgraduate (all levels) | United States | |
| Schwarzman Scholars | Schwarzman Scholars, Tsinghua University | Master's | China | |
| MEXT Japanese Government Scholarship | Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan | Undergraduate and postgraduate | Japan | |
| France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship | French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (managed by Campus France) | Master's and doctoral | France |
UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations
The UK government's international scholarship programme for one-year master's study, funded by the FCDO. How the application works, what it asks for, and where candidates lose marks.
US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (administered by the Institute of International Education)
The US Department of State's flagship exchange programme for non-US citizens studying in the United States. How the country-by-country application works and why the J-1 visa condition matters.
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK, funded by the FCDO
UK government scholarships for candidates from eligible Commonwealth countries, administered by the CSC. Why the nominating agency route decides your timeline, and how the distance-learning strand differs.
European Commission, Erasmus+ programme (DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture)
EU-funded master's programmes delivered by consortia of universities in at least three countries. You apply to the consortium, not to the EU — and that changes everything about how to plan.
Gates Cambridge Trust, University of Cambridge
Full postgraduate funding at the University of Cambridge for students from outside the UK, assessed alongside your Cambridge admission application through a single combined form.
University of Oxford (Clarendon Fund, supported by Oxford University Press)
Oxford's largest graduate scholarship scheme. There is no separate application form — you are considered automatically if you apply for your course by the right deadline, which makes that deadline the whole game.
Rhodes Trust, Rhodes House, University of Oxford
Fully funded postgraduate study at the University of Oxford, selected through country and region "constituencies" that each run their own competition with their own rules and deadline.
DAAD — Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service)
The German Academic Exchange Service funds thousands of international students and researchers a year — but "a DAAD scholarship" is not one thing. How to use the scholarship database properly.
Government of Canada (administered jointly by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC)
Canada's flagship doctoral award. You cannot apply directly — a Canadian institution with a quota must nominate you, which makes the internal deadline the one that matters.
Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
Australia's development scholarship programme, run by DFAT for citizens of partner countries. Country-specific rules decide almost everything, including which fields you may study.
Stanford University (Knight-Hennessy Scholars)
Full funding for any full-time graduate degree at Stanford, decided by an admissions committee entirely separate from the one deciding your degree place. Two applications, two timelines, two outcomes.
Schwarzman Scholars, Tsinghua University
A one-year fully funded Master of Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, built around a cohort model and assessed largely on leadership rather than academic record.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan
Japan's government scholarship for international students, offered through two very different routes — embassy recommendation and university recommendation — that suit different candidates.
French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (managed by Campus France)
A French government scholarship for master's and PhD study — with one rule that changes everything: only French institutions may submit an application, and student-submitted applications are rejected.
Four checks, in this order. They take an afternoon and they are the difference between a cycle that produces offers and a cycle that produces nothing.
This directory is not exhaustive — and the best sources are closer to you
The schemes here are the largest and most internationally recognised, which also makes them the most competitive. Smaller awards have far better odds and almost no online coverage: departmental scholarships listed only in a university’s own funding database, professional body and learned society awards, employer and trade union education funds, community foundations and religious or diaspora organisations, and country-specific bilateral schemes. The single highest-yield hour you can spend is on the funding pages of the specific department you are applying to.
A working method for scholarship applications: build the timeline backwards from the deadline, get the slow items moving first, and write evidence rather than adjectives.
What happens to your file between submission and decision — the eligibility sift, the scoring rubric, the pairing of readers, and the shortlist meeting where files are compared rather than judged.
Scholarship fraud follows a small number of repeatable patterns. Here are the twelve signals that identify almost all of it, plus how to verify a scheme in ten minutes and what to do if you have already paid.
Government scholarship schemes are funded from foreign policy or development budgets, and that origin explains their eligibility rules, their return conditions and what their selection panels reward.
Each profile is re-opened against the provider’s live guidance on a rolling schedule, and the Last verified date on the page records when that check actually happened — not when the page was first written and not when a template was updated. If a date looks old to you, treat the profile as background and go directly to the official source.
ScholarBrief is not affiliated with any programme listed here, receives no payment from any provider, and cannot influence any decision on your application. We do not accept payment for inclusion, position or links. If a profile is out of date or a link is broken, report it — corrections are the most useful message we get. Our corrections policy explains what happens next.