Graduate Education International Scholarships

• Gates Scholars study at the University of Cambridge.bicycles cambridge university image by david hughes from Fotolia.com
  
  Graduate students may have a number of reasons to conduct their education abroad. Not only does international education allow students to explore different cultures and languages, but it can also provide important exposure to different research methods and university systems. Depending on where a student wishes to study, a variety of funding options are available to them. Some international scholarships for graduate education may be country-specific whereas others may have no requirements for where accepted students must study.
  
  

France

• Targeting foreign students who wish to study in France, the Eiffel Scholarship (sponsored by the French government) provides eligible students with a significant amount of funding toward their educational costs. Eiffel Scholarships do not provide tuition for students, but rather give them a monthly allowance toward living expenses. As most public universities in France have very low fees (around several hundred euros per year), this exclusion should not affect graduate students too greatly. For master's courses, the Eiffel scholarship holders receive an allowance of 1,181 euros, and Ph.D. candidates receive 1,400 Euros. Although a very prestigious program, the Eiffel Scholarship does not allow students to apply directly; instead, their schools must nominate them.
  
  

United Kingdom

• Students wishing to pursue graduate work in the United Kingdom have a number of options to pursue for full funding of their educations. If they wish to study at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, they can apply for a Rhodes Scholarship or to the Gates Cambridge Trust, respectively, both of which award generous scholarships to students selected to study at the two universities. If a student wishes to study at a different university, she may apply to the Marshall Fund, which awards scholarships to American students who want to study at any university in the United Kingdom.
  
  

Scholarships without Geographic Restrictions

• For students who wish to pursue their graduate education internationally in another country, several options exist. For example, the International Federation of University Women provides generous grants (between 8,000 and 10,000 Swiss Francs) to women completing their doctorates abroad. Applicants must be members of their local organization of University Women and must have completed at least one year of their graduate studies. Similarly, Fulbright research grants are available for most countries; however, though these grants are prestigious, they are usually only valid for one year and may not give students the opportunity to finish their graduate work with the full funding with which they began.