All you need to Apply for Chevening Scholarship

You have a great opportunity to live and study in the UK, explore the UK culture, take a picture near Big Ben, and, who knows, maybe accidentally meet a Queen in the streets?

Chevening scholarship covers transportation, living, and studying costs for motivated students to take a Master's studies in any UK university.

Read the article for the details about eligibility criteria, the application process, and the timeline for not to miss an opportunity.

What does the Scholarship offer?

The scholarship's objective is to support individuals with passion, ideas, and influence for a better tomorrow. Chevening scholars have the opportunity to take a one-year master's degree in any of the UK universities. 

The scholarship covers all the study and related costs, which is a great opportunity to enjoy the experience and concentrate on the studies fully. Particularly, the scholarship funds the following expenses:

• University tuition fee
• A monthly stipend
• Travel costs both to and from the UK
• Arrival allowance
• Homeward departure allowance
• Visa costs
• Attendance of the Chevening events in the UK

The course finder will help you choose universities in the UK based on your sphere of interest and location. 

Eligibility

All the Chevening applications are prescanned before sending to the committee, with the ones not corresponding to the eligibility criteria rejected immediately. Therefore, make sure you fit in the scholarship requirements before submitting your application. Read below what you should have and should not have to win the applicant selection phase. 

 Eligible candidates should correspond to the following criteria:

• Citizenship of a Chevening-eligible country
• Return to their home country for at least two years after the scholarship period ends
• Have proof of completion of all the undergraduate study components necessary for entering a post-graduate study in the UK
• At least two years or 2800 hours of work experience (read the details later)
• Application to three eligible UK university courses 
• An unconditional offer from one of the applied courses

The candidate is not eligible for the scholarship if they meet the following criteria:

• British or dual British citizenship
• Refugee in a non-Chevening eligible country
• (Former) employee, or relative of an employee of Her Majesty's Government
• A staff member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities
• Previously studied in the UK by funding from a UK Government-funded scholarship

Working experience is an important component of the eligibility criteria. As stated above, you should have at least two years of working experience. By working experience, Chevening assumes full-time or part-time employment, voluntary work, paid or unpaid internships. 

There is no restriction that your work experience should be in the same field as the master's course you are applying to. However, note that you will need to explain your motivation for changing career perspectives if the areas are different. 

Mentioning your work experience is enough for the application. There is no need to have a certification or proof of your work from the hiring/hired company. However, expect that you may receive questions about your work in case you reach the interview stage. 

Based on your mentioned working experiences, the system will automatically calculate your worked hours. Note that it's not necessary to have the required hours of work in one workplace. You can accumulate the required minimum by combining all your previous experiences.

Tips for applying

You should submit your application exclusively online, via the Chevening online application system. Your first step will be the registration on the system. As your account will be a platform for all the scholarship-related information updates, make sure you visit it often and not forget a password.

The application opens on September 3 every year on the page for separate countries/territories. An important note when filling the application is that you can send the university transcripts and diplomas' original documents. The scholarship committee will accept them without translations. The uploaded files should be less than 5MB and in JPG, PNG, or PDF formats.

The scholarship team hints you to log in through PC's Google Chrome browser when filling in the application, as the form will appear with its complete format in this way. Avoid using back and forth buttons, as this is most likely to delete all the information you have already filled in in the application. 

All the questions you will have in the application form should have at least 100 words in the answer. Otherwise, the application will be rejected. Also, try to encounter your answer in no more than 500 words. 

Save changes you make in the form, as each session automatically closes in 60 minutes, and the changes are not autosaved. There is a possibility to fill in the full application through several sessions. You can use this opportunity to acquire necessary documents or to write answers to certain questions that you do not immediately have at the first session.

Also, note that the only changes you may make in the submitted application are contacts and upload of new documents. So, do a good review of the form before submitting it. Additionally, check the collection of popular errors made by previous applicants to avoid them.

Timeline

Once you submit your application by the specified deadline, expect to wait for a minimum of eight months before the final selection of scholars. Read the stages your application will go through during this period. 

Throwback to the Scholarship history

The first time program covered the full-year study costs of the scholars was in 1984-1985. The first experience supported 100 scholars. At this first round of operations, the program's name was "FCO Scholarships and Awards Scheme." 

In 1994, the scholarship was renamed into the current Chevening Scholarship, after Douglas Hurd, a Foreign Secretary's official residence in Sevenoaks, Kent.

In 2001 the scholarship celebrated its 25 000 alumni. Starting from 2004, Chevening introduced the Chevening fellowship, another financial award along with the scholarship (read the difference between scholarship and fellowship). 

The scholarship is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development office and its partner organizations. FCDO cooperates with international organizations like the EU, NATO, UN to promote British interests and global security. 

Up to the current, 50,000 scholars have already benefited from the scholarship. We hope that this article may help you to become among the next generation of successful scholars. 

Published on Jan 22, 2021