Marshall Scholarship

Program Overview

Marshall Scholarships finance young Americans of high ability to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. Up to forty Scholars are selected each year to study at graduate level at an UK institution in any field of study.

As future leaders, with a lasting understanding of British society, Marshall Scholars strengthen the enduring relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments and their institutions. Marshall Scholars are talented, independent and wide-ranging, and their time as Scholars enhances their intellectual and personal growth. Their direct engagement with Britain through its best academic programmes contributes to their ultimate personal success.

The objectives of the programme are as follows:

• To enable intellectually distinguished young Americans, their country's future leaders, to study in the UK.
• To help Scholars gain an understanding and appreciation of contemporary Britain.
• To contribute to the advancement of knowledge in science, technology, the humanities and social sciences and the creative arts at Britain's centres of academic excellence.
• To motivate Scholars to act as ambassadors from the USA to the UK and vice versa throughout their lives thus strengthening British American understanding.
• To promote the personal and academic fulfilment of each Scholar.

Founded by a 1953 Act of Parliament, and named in honour of US Secretary of State George C Marshall, the Scholarships commemorate the humane ideals of the Marshall Plan and they express the continuing gratitude of the British people to their American counterparts.
Marshall Scholarships are mainly funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and are overseen by the Marshall Commission. The Secretariat is provided by the Association of Commonwealth Universities. In the US the selection process is managed by the regional Consulates General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and in Washington DC by the British Embassy.

Eligibility

Open only to United States citizens who (at the time they take up their Scholarship) hold a first degree from an accredited four-year college or university in the United States with a minimum GPA of 3.7. To qualify for awards tenable from October 2013, candidates must have graduated from their undergraduate college or university after April 2010.

Persons already studying for or holding a British degree or degree-equivalent qualification are not eligible to apply for a Marshall Scholarship.

Value

University fees, cost of living expenses, annual book grant, thesis grant, research and daily travel grants, fares to and from the United States and, where applicable, a contribution towards the support of a dependent spouse.

Number of Awards

Up to 40 Scholarships awarded annually.

Tenure

The Two Year Marshall Scholarship is tenable for two academic years (ie 22 months), but may be extended by the Commission, though not beyond the end of a third academic year. Third-year extensions are granted by the Commission on a limited basis, for strong academic reasons, subject to the availability of funds. In addition, thanks to the generous support of the following Universities:

• Up to two third-year extensions may be granted by the University of Edinburgh to those pursuing a doctorate at Edinburgh.
• Up to two third-year extensions may be granted by the London School of Economics and Political Science to those pursuing a doctorate at LSE.
• Up to two third-year extensions may be granted by the University of Nottingham to those pursuing a doctorate at Nottingham
• Up to three third-year extensions may be granted by the University of Oxford to those pursuing a doctorate at Oxford.
• Up to two third-year extensions may be granted by the University of St Andrews to those pursuing a doctorate at St Andrews

The One Year Marshall Scholarship is tenable for one academic year (ie 12 months) and cannot be extended.

Campus Contact:

Leena Shrestha, leens@pdx.edu (503) 725-9556