Departments and Colleges
This information is intended as a general guide for Departments, Colleges and associates of the University of Cambridge, and suggests ways in which you can interact with the Trusts.
You are welcome to contact any of our staff at any time to discuss any aspect of our work, and to explore how we could work together more effectively.
Cambridge International Scholarships (CISS)
Other postgraduate scholarships
Joint postgraduate scholarships with Departments and Colleges
Undergraduate scholarship competition
Levels and length of funding for students
Introduction
The Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and Cambridge Overseas Trust work with the Departments, Colleges and associates of the University of Cambridge in a number of ways, in order to ensure that support to international (non-EU) students at Cambridge is targeted as appropriately as possible.
Cambridge International Scholarships
The Cambridge International Scholarship Scheme, which operates via the Trusts, is a programme under which the 80 highest ranked new overseas PhD candidates, across all Departments and disciplines, are made early offers of full funding (fees and living expenses) by the Trusts. The programme began in 2009 following the ending of the Government-funded Overseas Research Studentship scheme. All scholarships are full-cost and means-blind.
Following a ranking process by Departments, selection decisions are made by a committee convened by the Board of Graduate Studies on which all six Schools were represented.
In the case of some successful candidates, the Trusts subsequently identify partner organizations willing to provide part of the cost of the scholarships, but the Trusts will meet the balance, and where necessary the whole costs, of these awards. The University has provided additional funding to the Trusts to make CISS possible. For enquiries about CISS scholarships, please contact the Trusts’ Deputy Director, Sue Osterfield.
Other postgraduate scholarships
The selection of recipients of the many other postgraduate scholarships (PhD and Masters’ level) provided by the Trusts is generally in the hands of the Trusts themselves, and is always made at the point of admission to a course. The Board of Graduate Studies provides the Trusts with copies of the Graduate Application Forms of all overseas (non-EU) students who have been made a conditional or unconditional offer, and who have stated that they wish to be considered for financial support. A variety of full- and part-cost scholarships are then made to the most deserving students, within the constraints of available funds. Consideration is given to the applicant’s financial need and academic merit.
Many of the graduate scholarships made by the Trusts are provided under long-term agreements with external funding partners, which include overseas governments, foundations and companies. In some cases candidates also need to apply directly to the funding partners in order to be considered for a scholarship; in other cases the Trusts can nominate suitable candidates or take decisions themselves on behalf of the partner. Details of schemes and application routes are given in the Scholarships section of this website.
The Trusts continue to consider papers of new students through to July, but are under pressure to make early offers of funding to students whose applications are processed earlier. Therefore Departments are encouraged to process as early as possible applications from overseas graduate students who may need to be considered for funding by the Trusts, and to return papers to the Board of Graduate Studies.
Joint postgraduate scholarships with Departments and Colleges
Many Departments and Colleges themselves provide funds for overseas student support. While much of this support operates effectively without the need for co-ordination with the Trusts, the Trusts and Departments or Colleges have sometimes found it beneficial to work together in two ways, and the Trusts are always ready to consider such arrangements:
- Ad hoc co-ordination of support to individual students. If a Department or College is able to offer partial funding to a student, it may be helpful to discuss that student’s requirements with the Trusts, if we have also been asked to consider funding the same student. On occasion we may be able to offer two separate awards which combine to meet a student’s needs. We are always ready to meet Colleges or Departments during the period from March to June when awards are being considered.
- If a Department or College has access to regular funds to support overseas students, for example through a research grant or endowment, it has at times been useful to establish a long-term joint funding arrangement with the Trusts in order to offer a more substantial level of support to students. The Trusts are open to discussing new arrangements of this kind, provided that they are consistent with maintaining a balanced intake of high-quality overseas graduate students, and that a substantial part of the funding has been raised independently of the Trusts.
Please contact the Director, Michael O’Sullivan, if you wish to discuss such possibilities for collaboration.
Undergraduate scholarship competition
The Trusts gives scholarships to overseas (non-EU) undergraduate students at the point of admission. Candidates are those overseas undergraduates whom the Colleges, having made offers of admission, refer to the Trusts for consideration. Colleges provide the Trusts with academic ranking information and an appraisal of the students’ financial circumstances. The Trusts give consideration to need, academic merit, and the College’s own willingness, within the constraints of its financial situation, to offer support to a student. The annual competition concludes in April/May with the announcement of scholarships by the Trusts. Guidance on each year’s competition is sent to Colleges in Michaelmas Term.
The Trusts also operate a number of special Undergraduate Scholarship Schemes to which separate procedures apply.
Please contact Lesley Page for more information about undergraduate support.
Students in residence
The Trusts treat students in residence who are applying for admission to a higher degree course in the same way as new applicants from overseas.
The Trusts do not consider applications from students in the middle of their course, except in defined circumstances of unforeseen hardship, as follows, and then only on referral from the student’s College:
- if overseas (non-EU) students find themselves in severe unforeseen financial hardship
- if the student’s College is willing to provide a certain level of support and/or fee remission (the Trusts’ take account of the financial circumstances of individual Colleges)
- if funding from the Trusts would enable the student to complete their course of study successfully
- the Trusts may provide a hardship grant to match funds provided by the College, up to a maximum of £5,000 per student, or £1,000 in the case of students needing to abandon their studies and in need of funds to return home.
Please contact Sue Jones for further information or to seek hardship funding for an overseas student. The Trusts’ funds to assist with student hardship are limited, and priority is given to students in less wealthy Colleges who have suffered clear and severe hardship as a result of illness, bereavement or other misfortune. The Trusts are not in a position to underwrite the financial needs of students who have simply made overly optimistic forecasts of their income or their family’s income.
Levels and length of funding for students
The Trusts seek to support a large number of students at a level sufficient to allow them to take up their place at Cambridge and complete their courses. Accordingly, we set our stipend levels, where stipends are paid as part of the scholarship, at a level just above the minimum prescribed by the University.
The duration of funding provided by the Trusts is always the same as the standard course length set by the University. The Trusts have limited ability to support the maintenance costs of PhD students who overrun: such support is limited to students whose PhD studies are mainly funded by the Trusts, and who are overrunning through no fault of their own. Please contact Sue Jones for further information.
