IELTS is the world’s most popular English proficiency assessment, with over 9000 institutions in 140 countries worldwide accepting it. Almost every university in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom accepts IELTS as an English eligibility award, and over 2500 universities and colleges in the United States do as well.
The IELTS scholarships were established to assist students who aspire to attend a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate education abroad but are unable to do so due to financial constraints. As a result, the British Council, as well as various colleges and governments, provide IELTS scholarships to students. It is given to students who get high IELTS scores.
Let us look at the different scholarships available for students as well as the eligibility criteria and scholarship amounts.
British Council IELTS Scholarships
The British Council provides IELTS scholarships based on a candidate’s performance and scoring requirements. The IELTS leap scholar programme provides candidates with foreign education experience and networks. The IELTS Scholarship for Indian Students programme was designed to help Indian students who want to study at colleges in other countries.
The scholarship is available for a full-time postgraduate study at any university within the United Kingdom that recognises IELTS as part of its entry requirements and as a valid assessment of English language abilities. Scholarships for IELTS start at around £10,000 and go up from there. To be eligible for this IELTS exam scholarship, test takers must have an IELTS score of 6.5 or above. If you want to apply for the scholarship, keep in mind the application deadlines. Visit British Council Website
for knowing the deadlines and changes ( if any) for the scholarships.
Eligibility for the British Council IELTS Award
The British Council officials have delineated certain guidelines for the candidates who are eligible for the scholarship award. It is described below:
- Entrance exam: The candidate must have taken the IELTS test within the last year (the most current test) before applying for the scholarship.
- Minimum score: To be able to apply for the scholarship, the candidate must have a minimum band score of 6.5.
- Nationality: The applicant must be an Indian national, a resident of India, and a citizen of the country.
- Acceptance: The candidate must present an acceptance offer letter from the institution in which they have enrolled, and this institute must accept IELTS as part of their admission criteria.
- The scholarship is available to students planning to study a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate course overseas. Students enrolled in a certificate, diploma, or part-time course are ineligible for funding.
Here are the six prominent British Council scholarships awarded to Indian students:
- The Great Scholarships
- The Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarships
- The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Programme
- The British Council IELTS Awards
- Hornby Scholarships
- The IELTS Cash Award Scholarship
1. The Great Scholarships
The Great Scholarship provides around 20 postgraduate scholarships from UK institutions to Indian students. Each scholarship is worth at least £10,000 (INR 9,59,727) towards tuition expenses for a one-year postgraduate programme at one of the participating universities. The GREAT Britain Campaign and the British Council, in collaboration with the partnering UK university, support the Great Scholarship. The Great Scholarship is available in a wide range of topics. Please keep in mind that you can only earn this scholarship if you apply to study in the United Kingdom.
Apart from India, students from countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Mexico, Nigeria, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnam and Thailand can apply for it. This Great Scholarship covers the disciplines listed below.
- Education
- Life Sciences
- Environmental Science, Sustainability and Climate Change
- Humanities
- Maths, Data Science and Statistics
- Art, Visual and Creative
- Human Rights
- Gender Studies
- Infrastructure Development and Urban Planning
- Developmental Studies and Social Sciences
- Behavioural Science and Public Health
Eligibility for applying :
- The applicant must possess an Indian passport and reside in India at the time of application.
- have a bachelor’s degree, be driven, and be interested in the proposed topic area
- The candidate must have achieved an IELTS score that meets the university’s standards.
- Any of the participating UK institutions must have issued an acceptance/offer letter to the candidate.
- During the application process, you should have all of your degree mark sheets and higher secondary credentials ready.
The UK universities that accept Great Scholarships from Indian Students:
- Bishop Grosseteste University
- Cranfield University
- Edinburgh Napier University
- Falmouth University
- Goldsmiths, University of London
- Keele University
- Queen’s University Belfast
- Royal Agricultural University
- Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
- University of Derby
- University of East Anglia
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Kent
- University of Manchester
- University of Plymouth
- University of St Andrew’s
- University of Southampton
Application process:
- Choose a university from the list above, then select a course to enrol in. Make sure you meet all of the admission requirements.
- Register for the admissions portal and use your credentials to log in.
- Examine university websites for information on scholarships and institute-specific application procedures.
- Universities have different deadlines. As a result, be certain that you maintain track of the dates.
- Once you understand points c and d, you may fill out the scholarship application form provided on the college website.
- Enter all of the required information and attach the necessary documents.
- The university will notify selected candidates directly through email.
- Individual institutions will provide scholarships to successful scholars upon registration.
- The British Council panel will examine each application based on predetermined criteria. As part of the final selection process, applicants who have been shortlisted will be interviewed.
2. The Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarships
CWIT helps Indians in their early to mid-career phases to spend time in the UK, assisting them in achieving creative, intellectual, and professional goals and broadening their international networks. For 40 years, the British Council India has collaborated with the Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT).
Long-term grants from CWIT
Through the scholarships, CWIT enables early to mid-career practitioners to expand their knowledge, skills, and experience. These fellowships are exceedingly competitive, with just a few individuals receiving scholarships each year. Scholarships are often for a full-time MA programme (maximum of one year) in the subject of arts or heritage conservation at a UK institution.
The CWIT award covers living expenses and course fees in the United Kingdom. CWIT will additionally pay GBP 600 towards your overseas travel; however, you must have sufficient funds to cover any other fees, such as UK visas, insurance, and any internal travel inside India; CWIT does not offer two-year courses.
Eligibility
The applicant should:
- be an Indian citizen living in India
- be aged between 28 and 38
- have a first degree, diploma or professional qualification in their specialisation. CWIT prefers applicants with significant working experience
- have not received a CWIT grant within the last five years.
Application process
Your application form should include a Statement of Purpose that clearly states the programme you intend to pursue, what you want to achieve in the UK, and how you intend to put this knowledge to use when you return to India.
You will also need:
- IELTS Certification
- Evidence of unconditional acceptance or progress toward acceptance on the course, program, attachment, or internship for which you have applied.
- Portfolio submission in the form of web links, images, or related papers.
Applicants are shortlisted based on their applications, and interviews will be held remotely. CWIT chairs the panels of Indian experts.
The CWIT also provides other types of grants to professionals including:
- CWIT short research grants
- Visiting fellowships
- Grants towards final year doctoral study in the UK
- Artists residencies
- Museology
For more information regarding each of these grants visit their official website of Charles Wallace India Trust
3. The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Programme
This initiative is funded by the Department for International Development, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and the Department for Education (DFE), in collaboration with UK institutions. The CSC scholarships are also available to universities in the United Kingdom and abroad.
The scholarship covers qualifying candidates’ airline tickets, tuition fees, proper maintenance, and other allowances. According to the official rules, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the Department of Education, and the Government of India conduct preliminary selection of candidates for scholarships in India. The preliminary selection is conducted by shortlisting applications, which is followed by personal interviews in New Delhi.
For detailed information regarding the commonwealth, scholarships visit the website
4. The British Council IELTS Awards
The BC IELTS Award is valued between GBP 3000 and GBP 10,000, depending on the tuition fee of the student’s course of study. This scholarship will help candidates pursue an undergraduate or postgraduate degree anywhere in the globe. The scholarship is only valid for courses beginning in August/September, and the money will be delivered directly to the institution where the recipient has registered. The tuition expenses for the chosen programme must be at least £3,000. If the successful candidate’s tuition expenses are less than the maximum individual award fund of £10,000, the remaining funds may be used to help other runners-up.
Eligibility
To be eligible for this award you must:
- You must be 18 or older.
- have taken an IELTS test at a British Council centre in Germany and received an official Test Report Form (TRF)issued by the British Council in Germany.
- acquire a minimum overall band score of 6.5, as well as a minimum score of 6.5 in each of the four IELTS components.
- be planning to enrol on a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate programme taught in English at a university or other institution of higher education in Germany or abroad, which accepts IELTS as part of its admission requirements
- produce a letter of acceptance from the relevant educational institution.
Selection process
- Applications will be evaluated initially to confirm that they fulfil the British Council IELTS Award qualifying requirements before being assessed by a panel of British Council/higher education officials.
- Five applicants will be chosen based on their submissions, which will include a personal statement.
- Shortlisted applicants will be required to submit supporting documentation, such as a copy of their IELTS Test Report Form (TRF) and a copy of their ID.
- A team of British Council/higher education professionals will interview the final selected applicants (online). Before being questioned for final selection, they will be requested to deliver a brief presentation.
5. Hornby Scholarships
A.S.Hornby Educational Trust scholarships are given to experienced English language professionals who are not from the United Kingdom, such as teachers, teacher-trainers, and instructional designers. The scholarship covers the cost of a one-year master’s degree programme in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at the University of Warwick. The scholarship only covers the first year of the study; all further semester fees must be covered by the student.
The scholarships cover all expenditures in the UK, including a monthly stipend for housing and living expenses, tuition fees, return flight tickets, visa fees, and authorised language test (IELTS, PTE, TOEFL) prices.
Eligibility
- Hold three years of full-time English language teaching experience and a bachelor’s degree (the UG degree should be comparable to a bachelor’s degree in the UK).
- Possess at least 5 years of experience as an English teacher or trainer.
- Must have some developmental experience as a trainer or manager.
- They must be citizens of the nation from which they are applying.
- Possess an overall IELTS score of 6.5 and no less than 6 band in individual modules, with the exception of the writing module, where you should have a 6.5 band score.
Application process
Applicants must complete an application form available on the university’s website. In the application form, all information, including personal, academic, professional, and referee information, must be filled out completely. The candidate must also write a 1500-word supporting statement explaining why they are applying for the Hornby Scholarship, as well as answer numerous additional questions on the application form.
Selection process
The scholarship has four stages of selection, which are as follows:
- Application submission: Candidates complete an online application form for preliminary evaluation.
- Interview: Applicants who pass stage 1 are invited to an interview round at the British Council office in their country of origin.
- Admission to the University: If the candidate is chosen for the interview, he or she will be requested to apply to the institution for consideration
- Acceptance to university: The candidate’s scholarship grant is verified, and plans are made for him or her to arrive in the United Kingdom to begin class.
6. The IELTS Cash Award Scholarship
This is a new scholarship that offers a $5,000 cash reward. Applications for the Fully Funded Cash Scholarship 2022 are currently open (deadline November 30th) to qualified overseas students.
Eligibility:
- Candidates must be under the age of 32.
- Candidates must have graduated from high school with at least 75% marks.
- Should have completed an undergraduate course with a minimum GPA of 3.0; (7th and 8th semester students are also eligible, but must show transcripts from the first six semesters with GPAs greater than 3.0)
- Should not have taken an IELTS exam previously.
- The household income should be less than US $250 per month (family bank statements and tax receipts should be shown upon request). One reference letter from a prior school instructor explaining your calibur.
Application process
To apply for the cash reward scholarship, qualified candidates must complete an online application form. During the application process, a 500-word motivation letter explaining why you are the best candidate for this scholarship should be provided as a word document.
To know more about the application check the blog on IELTS dates
Conclusion
There are several IELTS scholarships available to help you fulfill your ambition of studying abroad. However, it is essential to organise your studies and select a course of interest ahead of time so that you can compile a list of scholarships to which you are qualified to apply. A thorough preparation will also assist you in gathering all of the necessary documentation and statements of purpose for demonstrating your eligibility for the scholarship..
