Chevening eligibility criteria

You must meet our eligibility criteria to apply for a Chevening Scholarship. Ineligible applications will be rejected.

To be eligible for a Chevening Scholarship you must:

Be a citizen of a Chevening-eligible country or territory.
- If applying for an award from an ODA-eligible country, be resident in an ODA-eligible country. This does not have to be the country of citizenship, but all applicants must show a clear intention to support their country of award.
Commit to returning to your home country (country of award) for at least two years after your scholarship ends.
Have at least ‘two years’ work experience, acquired after completing undergraduate degree, equivalent to 2800 hours.
Hold an undergraduate degree that qualifies you for a UK master’s programme. You must have finished your undergraduate studies at least two years before our application deadline, even if you have not yet received your certificate. However, you will need to have your certificate by the time of your interview.
Apply to three different and eligible  UK university courses. You must have received an unconditional offer from at least one of these course choices by the deadline listed on the application timeline.

You are not eligible for a Chevening Scholarship if you:

Hold British or dual British citizenship (unless you are a citizen of a British Overseas Territory or hold BN(O) and are applying from Hong Kong).
Hold refugee status in a country not eligible for Chevening. However, if you are a citizen of an eligible country and hold refugee status in another eligible country, you are eligible for a scholarship.
Are resident in the UK at the time of application (excluding the British Overseas Territories).
Are an employee, an immediate relative* of an employee, or a former employee (within the last two years, from the opening of Chevening applications) of a government department, the British Council, a partner UK university, or any of their wholly owned subsidiaries. Individuals contracted to work on any British Council programme or project, and their relatives, are ineligible.
Have previously studied in the UK on a UK government-funded scholarship (Applicants for a Chevening Scholarship who have previously received UK Government funding through a Chevening Fellowship may apply for a Scholarship only after five years have passed since completing their Fellowship).

Please note that having a master’s degree does not prevent you from applying for a second master’s degree in the UK.

Read our eligibility criteria for Chevening Fellowships

*Immediate relatives are defined as parents or step-parents, siblings or step-siblings, children or step-children, spouse, civil partner or unmarried (where the couple have been in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years).