Cowrie Foundation Scholarship

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation (CSF) will offer a scholarship to support Black African and Caribbean heritage applicants from socio-economically under-represented backgrounds. 

Applicants must be an ordinarily resident in the UK and commencing undergraduate study in the academic year 2025/26. 

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation wants to fund 100 Black British Students through UK Universities in the next decade. See more information on the Cowrie Scholarship Foundation.

This award will cover tuition fees in full and offer a stipend of up to £10,000 for each year of your programme. The award is for the entirety of your programme subject to satisfactory academic progression.

Eligible programmes

• Any full-time undergraduate degree of 3 years duration

Candidate criteria

In order to be considered for this scholarship, applicants must meet all of the following eligibility criteria.

• This scholarship is open to Home fee status applicants only.
• This scholarship is open to new applicants (beginning their course in 2025/26) only.
• Applicants must belong to one of the following ethnic groups:
  • Black or Black British-Caribbean
  • Black or Black British-African
  • Mixed-White and Black Caribbean
  • Mixed-White and Black African
• Applicants must have a household income of £25,000 per annum or less
• Applicants must have made an application to their regional Student Finance funding authority for income assessment (e.g. Student Finance England, Student Awards Agency for Scotland).
• Applicants must be in receipt of full financial support for the 2025/26 academic year from their regional Student Finance authority. Please ensure you have given consent to share the information with SOAS, as this information will be used to help determine eligibility.
• Applicants must have applied to SOAS but are not required to have received an offer of admissions by the scholarship deadline. An offer will need to have been received by the time the relevant panel meets to discuss scholarship applications.

Candidate assessment

• Candidates will be assessed based on their academic merit, financial need, work experience and personal statement by a Selection Panel.
• The assessment of your application will be based on the information provided in your scholarship application and in your online application for admission. The panel will review details such as degree results, personal statement and other relevant information.
• You must submit a complete application of your programme as soon as possible and then submit an application for this scholarship in order to be considered. Please note that complete applications for admissions can take up to 4 weeks to be considered by the Department, although this duration can vary depending on the time of the year. You should be prepared to wait up to 6 weeks in busy periods. 
• Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.