The 2024 Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship offers a unique opportunity to pursue a globally recognized Master’s degree from a prestigious UK university, all from the comfort of your home country.
This fully-funded scholarship is jointly offered by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC), renowned for supporting brilliant and talented students worldwide, and participating UK universities.
The scholarship provides you with financial support to study certain Master’s programs. This allows you to deepen your knowledge and advance your career without relocating.
That’s, because the program is distance learning, you don’t need to travel to the UK to study. But with your laptop/smart phone and internet, you can sit in your house and connect to lectures. At the end of the program, you’re awarded a certificate.
If this opportunity excites you like it does to me, then I’m excited to let you know that the application window for the 2024-2025 academic year is now open!
To increase your chance of securing this scholarship opportunity, take note of everything I’ll say going forward. .
What Is Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship 2024 2025?
Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship is an online scholarship given to international students of low income, least developed and lower middle commonwealth countries for a part-time master degree in a selected course in Uk universities.
When given the scholarship, you will be granted access to study directly from your home without traveling to the UK to visit the university.
Every activity of the program including lectures will be carried out online via the university platform. Therefore, you are to ensure to have a good internet connection.
The program covers full tuition fees and all other necessary financial costs involved when studying your desired course through distance learning.
Eligibility Countries for Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship
The master degree program is open to international students from the following countries.
- Bangladesh
- Belize
- Botswana
- Cameroon
- Dominica
- Eswatini
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guyana
- India
- Jamaica
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mauritius
- Montserrat
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Rwanda
- Saint Helena
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- Sierra Leone
- Solomon Islands
- South Africa
- Sri Lanka
- Tanzania
- The Gambia
- Togo
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Vanuatu
- Zambia
Requirements for the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship
The following requirements is what is needed in order for you to register and win the commonwealth distance learning scholarship
- Citizenship: you must be a citizen or someone with a permanent resident in any of the commonwealth countries listed above. For non citizens, you must be granted refugee status by any of these eligible countries.
- Academic Qualification: You must have an excellent Academic grade in your first degree program. At least an upper second class result and some relevant experience can help you in securing the scholarship.
- Financial constraints: show proof of not being able to afford to study in any of the participating UK universities without the scholarship opportunity.
- Necessary Documents: you must possess the right documents needed to be uploaded when registering for the scholarship.Some of these important documents include your national ID card, full transcript and two reference letters.
How to Apply for the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship
The 2024-2025 Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship is ongoing, the deadline for submitting an application is on Thursday 28th of March 2024 by 16:00 GMT. Following the instructions given below to apply immediately.
- Choose a program: View the list of approved Master’s courses and participating UK universities from UK Host Universities.
- Apply to the university: Apply and gain admission to your chosen program at a participating university. Once you’ve been given admission, then proceed with the next step.
- Apply for the scholarship: Submit your application through the CSC’s Distance learning online application system
- Fill the online application form. Your application will require you to provide information through various sections:
- Academic Background: List all undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications.
- Professional Experience: Detail your employment history. Talk about its relevance to your chosen program. Explain how your work experience aligns with the scholarship’s objectives.
- References: Provide contact information for two referees, including a current employer if applicable. These individuals should be able to comment on your suitability for the scholarship and your potential development impact.
- Development Impact Statement: This comprehensive statement will discuss the proposed scholarship’s connection to development issues (global, national, local, and thematic) and how you plan to utilize your acquired skills post-scholarship. You can check out how to write a Development Impact Statement for Commonwealth Scholarships.
- Scholarship Objectives and Plans: This section enables you to talk about your goals for the scholarship program and your career plans for the next 5 and beyond years.
- Plan of Study: Provide a detailed plan outlining your intended course of study.
- Personal Statement: Explain how your personal background motivates you to contribute to your home country. Essentially, this section is where you talk about any past contributions you’ve had and how you overcame challenges. If there are volunteer works you’ve done that relate` to your course of study, here is the perfect section to talk about it.
- Upload documents: After a successful registration, you’ll be required to upload your documents. The documents usually requested for from my experience are:
- Proof of Citizenship/Refugee Status: Valid passport or national ID card showing your photo, date of birth, and citizenship in an eligible Commonwealth country.
- Your complete academic transcripts.
- Two references. These should be people you’re very close to that can write good reference letters for you.
- Wait for nominations: Universities will nominate chosen applicants in May 2024.
- CSC eligibility check: The CSC will review nominated applicants.
- Results notification: Universities inform applicants about scholarship awards in July 2024.
While applying for the Commonwealth Distance Learning Scholarship, pay rapt attention to the following ideas:
- The Applications deadline is open until March 28th, 2024 (4:00 PM GMT).
- You can apply to several courses and universities but can only accept one scholarship offer.
- The scholarship is only for Master’s programs, not undergraduate or PhD studies.
- Refer to your chosen university for specific application deadlines and requirements.
Final Thought
If there’s one most important thing to pay attention to when applying for Commonwealth scholarships, it will be the mission of CSC. Yes, most likely, the scholarship commission is looking for people whose ideas align with their overall objective – which is Sustainable Development and Impact.
The committee wants people who can be educated to go back to their host country to make an impact in the lives of those in his/her home country.
So, if you want a one-way approach to get the scholarship, you need to focus more of your energy on explaining to the commission how the scholarship can catalyze your goal to lead a course in your home country that can lead to sustainable development.
Perhaps, you might need to start by knowing what sustainable development is.
