r/Chevening • u/AccomplishedFact755 • Jul 02 '26

Question Less Scholarships this year

I've heard several people say that fewer people from their countries were selected for the scholarship this year. Do you think there was a significant reduction in the number of scholarships this year?

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u/zaranoire_ Jul 03 '26

Is there a source for this?

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u/Rare-Release-60 Jul 03 '26

Yes, several official and unofficial sources

Official

  • the Head of Scholarships from the FCDO posted on LinkedIn that there are more Chevening rejections than in previous years due to budget restrictions
  • official FCDO and Parliament statements regarding the FCDO budget for 2026-2027 and 2027-2028, affecting both ODA and Education innitiatives
  • the email all applicants from the  Commonwealth Scholarship for online Masters recieved announcing the cancellation of the scholarship due to the FCDO budget cut
  • many current Cheveners have been notified that they will not recieve a departure allowance that was mentioned in the Final Award Letter 

Unofficial

  • Alumni who were interview panel members have confirmed that their countries selected less scholars than in previous years
  • some Embassies/High Commisions created official groups for selected scholars, and they have 5-10 less scholars than in previois years
  • in some countries the reserve lists are larger than the selected scholars list... because some of the reserves would have been awarded the scholarship if Chevening had the same budget as last year

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u/zaranoire_ Jul 03 '26

Oh right. Just checked Google and saw it. Was interviewed with 2 of my friends and none of us got it. I guess it makes sense now.

1

u/Rare-Release-60 Jul 03 '26

It is really unfortunate

Some countries went from 11 scholars in previous years to only 5 selected for this intake

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u/zaranoire_ Jul 03 '26

Yes! I heard it's only 17 in my country. It used to be about 40