The Clarendon Fund is the University of Oxford’s largest graduate scholarship scheme, with more than 200 new fully funded awards each year. It pays your course fees and a grant for living expenses for the whole period you are liable for fees. Nationality, residence and subject are not restricted, so it is open to applicants from every Arab country.
The key difference from other scholarships is that you do not apply for Clarendon separately. Anyone who applies for a new degree-bearing master’s or DPhil at Oxford by the course’s December or January deadline is considered automatically. Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas are excluded. Current Oxford master’s students moving to a DPhil are eligible, but students continuing the same degree are not.
Deadlines depend on the course, and this is where applicants lose out. For 2027-28 entry, for example, the DPhil in Engineering Science and the MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy close at 12:00 midday UK time on 2 December 2026. The MPhil in Economics has a scholarship deadline of 26 January 2027. Applications made at a March or later deadline are not considered for Oxford scholarships at all.
Selection is based entirely on your course application: an excellent academic record, evidence of future academic potential, and commitment to the course, shown through your statement or research proposal and your references. Offers usually arrive by the end of April. If you have heard nothing by mid-June, you were not selected.
Tips for applicants from our region:
1. Find the “deadline for Oxford scholarships” line on your course page and treat it as your real deadline, even when a later course deadline is also listed.
2. Your statement is your scholarship essay. Make it specific about the academic question you want to study and why Oxford’s faculty suits it.
3. Convert your grades clearly. Include your university’s grading scale and your class rank if you have it.
4. Ask referees who can compare you with previous cohorts, such as “top 3 of 120 students”.
5. Also apply for country-specific and college scholarships through the same course application. Clarendon is highly competitive, and the same form often makes you eligible for them too.