Top scholarships for international students around the world

Study abroad grants can mean the difference if you need financial help, full or partial, to attend university in some of the top destinations in the world. It could be the door to a better life. After amassing all the perks, personal and professional, of studying, living and working in a foreign land, many international graduates emerge a cut above the competition.

“By sitting in a multicultural class with people from all over the world, you will not only gain knowledge, but will also grow in all aspects of your life,” shares Fulbright 2013 alumna Shima Bibi during an event preparing the recipients for the exchange programme in Islamabad. Bibi was not only the first woman in her family to earn a PhD. She is also the first in her home village.

Recipients of study abroad grants have gone on to great things. They have been appointed to Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs; headed to Princeton for further study; become caretaker Finance Minister of Pakistan; won government awards for advancing research in energy — and these are just within Pakistani recipients of study abroad grants alone. Globally, they have won Nobel Prizes, served as heads of states and even the United Nations and produced award-winning works of art.

Chinese filmmaker Xiaolu Guo, a Chevening scholar, poses with the Golden Leopard she received for her film “She, a Chinese” during the 62nd Locarno international film festival in Locarno. Source: Reto Albertalli/AFP

If your grades and experiences merit bagging a scholarship, you should, as quickly as you can, apply for the study abroad grants that fit you and your interests best below. The Fulbrights, Rhodes and Chevenings may be the most well-known scholarships, but study abroad grants are by no means limited to just them. Other sources of study abroad grants include national governments, individual universities, private sectors and donors, as well as international organisations.

Check out our roundup of study abroad grants for international students in the US, the UK, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.