Chevening Scholarship – Where Dream Comes True

Farhana Afroz

Studying in the United Kingdom is an excellent opportunity to get some of the best higher education in the world. However, this kind of quality usually does not come cheap and many international students need some form of financial aid to fully or partially cover their study and living costs in the UK. The competition is very intense when it comes to applying for successful and generous UK scholarships. Several criteria are taken into account by some of the best providers, sometimes one of them being your past academic records.

Now, as a student who is likely to have done at least a little study, he/she need not think twice and should apply for a foreign scholarship in the UK. And today we will talk about “The Chevening Scholarship. So today we will discuss in detail how to apply for Chevening Scholarship, what is the requirement of this scholarship and will try to answer many other FAQs.

Chevening Scholarship is a fully-funded scholarship in the United Kingdom. It is a UK Government Scholarship through which you can study Masters’s for free. The UK is an excellent choice for higher studies and work permits. A large number of students from Bangladesh come to the UK for higher studies. This Chevening Scholarship can also be a great opportunity for those who want to study at different famous UK universities like the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge with a full free scholarship. And there is no application fee for applying this scholarship.

Before starting preparations, it is better to get an idea about the selection process so that planning can be done accordingly. The procedure for the scholarship begins around one year before the session. If someone wishes to attend his/her classes at the winter session in 2021, then he/she must begin his/her preparation in winter 2020.

The selection process of the Chevening Scholarship is done in 3 stages. In the 1st stage, you have to submit the application and it is completely online-based. This application submission procedure starts in early September and ends in the first week of November. You must complete the online submission within the first week of November. In the 2nd stage, the Chevening Scholarship team makes a shortlist for the interview, which takes place in mid-February. Those who are on the shortlist will be interviewed by the British Embassies around the world. This interview will be taken between March to May. At the final stage the interview results will be released in early June. After receiving the result of the interview and the offer letter from the university, your Chevening Scholarship will be confirmed.

Chevening Scholarship is given only at Masters Level. But here every one often get confused. The reason is, there are usually two types of masters in the UK. 1-year master’s and 2-year master’s. The one-year master’s is course-based and this Chevening Scholarship is given only for course-based master’s. So if someone has applied to a varsity for a 2 years Master’s, he/she will not be nominated for the Chevening Scholarship. So remember, if you want to do master’s in the UK through Chevening Scholarship, you must apply for a 1 year Masters course.

Let’s see what qualifications you would need to apply for the Chevening Scholarship. First of all, you have to be a citizen of a country that is eligible for the Chevening Scholarship (e.g. Bangladesh is a Chevening eligible country). Then you need to have a minimum of 2 years (2800 hours) of work experience. In other words, if your total work experience is 2800 hours, then you can apply for this scholarship. Here, you can have any type of work experience like- a part-time/full-time job, voluntary experience, paid/unpaid internship, etc. All of these work experiences can be gathered during or after bachelor studies. You would also have to select maximum 3 courses which can be from 3 different universities or from the same university. You must receive one unconditional offer letter from any of these universities and this offer letter must be received by the end of July.

For English language requirements, the overall score of IELTS should be 6.5 with each band having a minimum score of 5.5. For those who will give TOEFL, the overall score should be at least 79 with each band having a minimum score of 17, 18, 20, 17 respectively for Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. The certificate of this language requirement should be uploaded in PDF format on the website of Chevening Scholarship within mid-July. Besides, your bachelor’s result should be at least second class. Last but not least, you must have completed your bachelor’s study. It means that you cannot apply for the Chevening Scholarship even if you are in your final year/semester. Another important document is the reference letter which is also known as the recommendation letter. You need to submit 2 copies of this reference letter/recommendation letter in PDF format to the Chevening Scholarship’s website within mid-February.

Now let’s look at the benefits that an applicant receives from this scholarship. Chevening Scholarship will offer you a full tuition fee a monthly stipend (the amount of monthly stipend will depend on which city you will stay in and which university you will study in). This scholarship will carry full travel costs from Bangladesh to the UK and back to Bangladesh from the UK after finishing the study. You will be given an arrival and a departure allowance when you go to the UK and leave the UK after completing the study. Also, the most important thing is, the full cost of the UK visa will be borne by the Chevening Scholarship committee. As many of you know, the UK visa application process is extremely costly (about BDT 90,000). In this case, you are getting a huge opportunity. Many occasional Chevening events occur in different countries of the UK. If you join these events, scholarship will also provide you travel grants. In the conclusion of your scholarship, you must return to your country for a period of at least two years. The Secretariat is unable to provide any letter of support which might be required to enable a Scholar to stay on to work or study in the UK. If you do not remain resident in your home country for two years following completion of your Scholarship, this will be treated as a breach of a Scholarship condition and you will be liable to pay back all monies paid to you during the course of your Scholarship.

Well, that’s all for now. If you are a professional who has two years of work experience and a wish to seek higher education in the UK through the Chevening Scholarship, then I highly recommend you go through the courses and choose a path that suits you! Check the criteria, and then apply. You never know what your life has held for you!