Language Scholarship

Key information

Deadline date: 26 June 2026
Amount: £3,000 (Home); £4,000 (Overseas)

Scholarship overview

Thanks to the generosity of alumni who believe in the importance of studying languages at SOAS, a fund has been created to support language scholarships at SOAS for master’s students who would like to incorporate this option into their studies.

The language options can be one of the following: Amharic, Bengali, Burmese, Hausa, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Zulu - all at 1A or 1B level.

Each award provides £3,000 towards Home status tuition fees or £4,000 towards International tuition fees for the 2026/27 academic year. Each award is for one year of study only, but those on part-time courses may reapply in subsequent years. There are up to 10 Language Scholarships available for 2026/27.

Eligible programmes

Any taught master’s degree combined with language study in one of the following languages: Amharic, Bengali, Hausa, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Zulu at 1A or 1B level.

Online Learning, pre-sessional courses, and short courses are not eligible.

Candidate criteria

This scholarship is open to Home and Overseas fee status applicants, and to new applicants and current students. Applicants must;

Hold a minimum 2:1 bachelors degree from a UK university or international equivalent.
Have applied to SOAS but are not required to have received an offer of admission by the scholarship deadline. You will need to receive an unconditional offer by the time the relevant panel meets to discuss scholarship applications.
Meet the English language condition of their offer of admission to study at SOAS, if applicable. If your offer is conditional on English, please arrange your English test and ensure you meet the English requirements as soon as possible.

This scholarship does not cover funding for pre-sessional courses.

How to apply

Step one: apply for your programme

To apply for a masters degree programme, please see our How to apply for postgraduate study page.

Step two: apply for the scholarship

Apply for the scholarship by 12 noon (UK local time) on 26 June 2026. You must apply for this scholarship via the online application form. Should you have any queries, please contact scholarships@soas.ac.uk.

Candidate assessment

Candidates will be assessed based on their academic merit, personal statement and financial need 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.

Candidates must submit a complete application for their 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.

Candidates will need to have an unconditional offer for their programme by the time the Scholarship Panel meet. We will not consider late or incomplete applications.

Applying to multiple scholarships

You can apply for multiple scholarships and discounts, but can only accept and apply one to your tuition fees. You cannot combine scholarships and discounts (e.g., alumni, family, or partnership discount), so if you’re successful in more than one application you will need to choose the option with the highest value. 

Notification of results

The scholarship shortlisting and awarding period is expected to be completed by the end of August at the earliest. Successful candidates will be contacted first, and once all awards have been allocated, unsuccessful candidates will be notified.