Applications for Commonwealth Shared Scholarships for the academic year 2022/2023 are now open.
Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) Commonwealth Shared Scholarships enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development, and are aimed at those who could not otherwise afford to study in the UK.
Nevertheless, the Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are for candidates from least developed and lower-middle-income Commonwealth countries, to undertake full-time Master’s study on selected courses at a UK university.
Benefits
A Commonwealth Shared Scholarship covers:
- Approved airfare from applicant home country to the UK and return at the end of the award
- Approved tuition fees – funded by the CSC
- Stipend (living allowance) at the rate of £1,133 per month, or £1,390 per month for those at universities in the London metropolitan area
- Warm clothing allowance, where applicable – paid and funded by the university
- Thesis grant towards the cost of preparing a thesis or dissertation, where applicable
- Study travel grant towards the cost of study-related travel within the UK or overseas
- If applicant is a widow, divorced, or a single parent, child allowance of £485 per month for the first child, and £120 per month for the second and third child under the age of 16, if he/she is accompanied by the children and they are living with him/her at the same address in the UK.
Eligibility
To apply for the Commonwealth Shared scholarships, the applicant must:
- Be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by an eligible Commonwealth country, or be a British Protected Person
- Be permanently resident in an eligible Commonwealth country
- By September 2022, hold a first degree of at least upper second-class (2:1) honours standard, or a lower second-class degree (2:2) and a relevant postgraduate qualification (usually a Master’s degree).
- Be available to start his/her academic studies in the UK by the start of the UK academic year in September 2022
- Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high-income country
- Be unable to afford to study at a UK university without this scholarship
- Have provided all supporting documentation in the required format
- The CSC does not require any candidates to take an IELTS (English language) test. However, as a further condition of the scholarship, the university may ask applicant to provide evidence of a particular level of English language proficiency.
Selection process
- Academic merit of the candidate
- Quality of the plan of study
- Potential impact on the development of the candidate’s home country
Application Process
In the application form for the Commonwealth Shared Masters Scholarships 2022, prospective candidates are to provide:
- List all undergraduate and postgraduate university qualifications obtained (if applicable)
- List up to 10 publications and prizes (if applicable)
- Provide details of his/her employment history and explain how each job is relevant to the programme he/she wish to undertake in the UK (up to 100 words per employment)
- Provide a statement on the relevance of the previous work experience to the proposed Scholarship (up to 300 words)
- List names and positions of three referees to comment on both his/her capacity to benefit from his/her proposed Scholarship in the UK and his/her ability to deliver development impact afterwards. One of ther referees must be applicant current employer.
- Provide a Development Impact statement in 4 parts.
To apply for the Commonwealth Shared Masters Scholarships 2022, click here.
Deadline: December 20, 2021.
For more information on Commonwealth Shared Masters Scholarships 2022, visit the official site.
