Editorial standards

A wrong deadline can cost someone a year. This page sets out how we choose what to list, how we check it, and what we do when something changes, so that you can decide how far to rely on any page here.

What we choose to list

We list established, funded scholarships open to international applicants, run by governments, universities and large foundations. We leave out small or one-off awards we cannot check properly, essay competitions run as marketing, and anything that charges an application fee.

Official sources

The official source is the organisation that runs the award: the funder, the university, the government body, or a delivery partner named by the funder. Aggregator sites, blogs and social media posts do not count. Every listing links to the official page, and where our page and the official page disagree, the official page is right.

How deadlines are checked

One of the editors opens the official site, reads the current deadline and eligibility rules, updates the listing, and records the date. That date appears on the listing as "Last checked". We check each scholarship again around the time its round usually opens.

How deadline status is shown

• A date. The funder has published a closing date for the current round and we have confirmed it. Dates within two weeks are shown with the number of days left.
• Varies by country or course. There is no single deadline, as with Rhodes constituencies or DAAD country offices. The listing explains where to find yours.
• Next round not yet announced. The last round has closed and new dates are not out. We do not guess.

When a scholarship changes or ends

Amounts, eligibility and dates change between rounds. When we learn of a change we update the page and the "Last checked" date. When a programme closes for good, as the Vanier scholarships in Canada did, we take the listing down.

Guides

Articles carry the name of the editor who wrote them and the date of publication or last update. They describe how applications usually work; they are not a promise about how any particular panel will decide.

Money

No funder or university pays to be listed or to be placed higher. The site is paid for by advertising, which is kept separate from what we choose to list.