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Although it represents a long-term commitment, and longer than studying for a doctorate in the UK, I think the academic, career and 'new culture' advantages are more than sufficient incentive....
Meet John Marshall
at Harvard University
(2010 - 2015)
External Funding Bodies
Overview - Application Process
After assessing your personal and family savings in addition to investigating university funding, you will want to explore scholarships from external funding bodies, such as the Fulbright Awards.
What are external funding bodies?
External funding bodies may include a wide range of professional, charitable or government organizations with a vested interest in supporting further education. Generally, external funding bodies award scholarships or financial awards that do not have to be repaid and do not come with any work requirements as you will see with university assistantships.
Often, scholarships from external funding bodies can be thought of as niche scholarships, as their selection criteria may include both academic merit or extracurriculars plus specific personal characteristics outlined by the funding body. These qualities often correlate to the mission of the organisation and could include country of origin, ethnicity, religious faith, interest in a particular field, gender, interests, talents, etc.
For example, the US-UK Fulbright Commission was founded to promote mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between both countries. Therefore, our selection criteria include items such as: UK citizenship (international students are encouraged to use our advisory service, but investigate Fulbright scholarships in their home country), a keen interest in US culture and an interest in contributing this upon your return to the UK.
How to Apply
There are thousands of funding bodies. If you are unique in any way (and by simply being an international student, you will be!), there is likely a funding body with scholarship out there for you. You just have to find it!
Searching for external funding will require time and dedication on your part to sift through listings in print directories in our resource library and online (see below) to find relevant scholarship opportunities. You will then submit a separate application for each scholarship. For that reason, we encourage students with time constraints to first make sure they are being considered for university funding opportunities.
You may wish to search for scholarships from external funding bodies on the following websites:
- Institute for International Education - Funding for US Study
- EducationUSA
- Hotcourses Abroad
- International Education Financial Aid
- Fundsnet Services
- Study Abroad Funding
- International Student Organization
You may also wish to check out these additional scholarship resources:
Please note we provide a handout listing programmes we are aware of that offer scholarships specifically for UK and/or international students. We also pass along information from scholarship programmes on our monthly advising e-newsletter.