How to prepare your Chevening Scholarship application

Ensure you meet these criteria: 

• Be passionate about creating lasting positive change and a realistic career plan for achieving it.
• Have lots of examples of your leadership and influencing skills.
• Have at least two years of work experience (2,800 hours). 
  
• Be a citizen of a Chevening-eligible country or territory.  

• Commit to returning to your home country for at least two years after your scholarship ends.

• Hold an undergraduate degree that qualifies you for a UK master’s program. 

• Not have studied in the UK previously with a UK government-funded scholarship.  

Read more about eligibility. 

Chevening Scholarships are for UK master’s degrees only. On your Chevening application form, you will be required to choose three master’s degree courses. You must obtain an unconditional offer from one of these courses before the deadline.

Remember to apply to your courses as soon as possible after submitting your Chevening application. Learn more about applying to UK universities.  

You will need the names and contact details of two referees for your application. 

If you progress to the interview stage, you will need to upload the following documents to the online application system:

• Two reference letters written by your nominated referees in English (or with notarised translation).  

• Your undergraduate degree certificate. This must be an official document from your university proving your degree and grade. We require the original documents which do not need to be translated into English.

You can find the deadline to submit your reference letters on the application timeline.

Read more about references.

All Chevening Scholarship applications must be submitted through the online application system. The date when applications open and close can be found on the application timeline.

Chevening is very competitive. Applicants invited to interview will have lots of evidence of

• Leadership and influencing skills. 
• The ability to build and maintain professional relationships. 
• A realistic and achievable career plan for creating lasting positive change.
• Research into how a UK government funded scholarship will help you achieve your goals. 

If you don’t feel you have enough examples of the above, we recommend you wait until a future cycle to apply.

If you feel confident in being able to write a competitive application this year, read our guidance on the online application system. 

Check the application timeline for interview invitation dates. If shortlisted, you will receive an email to schedule your interview at a local British embassy or high commission.  

Read more about the interview process.  

If successful at interview, you must submit at least one unconditional offer from a UK university by the deadline.  

This is the final step before preparing for your Chevening year in the UK!